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4 hours ago
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Tens of thousands have taken to the streets across Germany to protest against the centre-right leader and frontrunner in a 25 February election for sending to parliament proposals for tough migration rules that received the backing of a far-right party.
Angry protesters in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Leipzig said that Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democrats (CDU) broke Germany’s unwritten post-Nazi promise by all democratic parties to never pass any rule or resolution in parliament with the support of far-right, nationalist parties such as Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
Police estimated that 160,000 people attended a rally in Berlin. Organisers put the turnout at 200,000.
Hundreds of protesters temporarily blocked offices of the CDU in different cities. In Cologne, people protested on 350 boats on the Rhine, the German news agency dpa reported. The boats lined up in front of the city’s skyline including its cathedral with protesters holding banners with slogans such as “No racism” and “For democracy and diversity”.
Merz on Wednesday proposed a nonbinding motion in parliament calling for Germany to turn back many more people at its borders. The measure squeaked through thanks to the AfD’s support.
Merz was determined to show the commitment of his centre-right alliance, which also includes the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, to cutting irregular migration after a deadly knife attack last month in which the suspect is a rejected asylum seeker.
However, on Friday, the German parliament narrowly rejected a bill calling for tougher rules on migration that risked becoming the first draft legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party. Nonetheless, it has become a focus of a controversy about the attitude toward the far right of the frontrunner in this month’s federal election.
Merz has been accused by protesters and politicians on the left of breaking a taboo and endangering mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the AfD. He has said his position is unchanged and that he did not and will not work with the party.
Polls show the CDU/CSU alliance, which put forward the migration proposal and bill, as leading election polling with about 30% support, with the AfD second on about 20% and the Social Democrats and Greens further back.
Merz appears to hope that he will gain support by making the alliance look decisive in forcing a tougher approach to migration, while blunting the appeal of the anti-immigration AfD and making the governing parties – which say they have already done much to tackle the issue – look out of touch with Germans’ concerns.
The 12-year-old AfD first entered the national parliament in 2017, benefiting from the then chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision two years earlier to allow large numbers of people into the country.
A year ago, hundreds of thousands also protested in weeks-long rallies across Germany against the rise of the far right and purported plans to deport millions of asylum seekers, including some holding German passports.
