Berlin police said on Sunday that at least 160,000 people attended a rally in the German capital to protest against the Conservative-Democratic Christian Union (CDU) on the support of extreme right in Parliament Plus early this week.
Friday, the Bundestag narrowly rejected a bill to considerably tighten the asylum laws which were supported by the CDU and its Bavarian sister party Conservative The Christian Social Union (CSU), the extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD), free free free business democrats (FDP) and populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).
But it was cooperation between the German conservatives and the far right of AFD who provoked the protest on Sunday in Berlin.
‘Shame on you cdu’
Shortly after the start of the rally outside the Federal Parliament, some demonstrators chanted slogans, including “Shame on You Cdu” before heading to the party’s seat.
Others have accused the CDU and its Chancellor Friedrich Merz candidate of having concluded a “pact with the devil” by seeking AFD’s support of adopting the anti-immigration bill.
Merz wanted to distance himself from any potential alliance between the CDU / CSU and AFD with the German elections at three weeks. Opinion polls show the CDU / CSU in first place among the voters, the AFD arriving in second position.
“I really said very clearly and forcefully several times: there will be no cooperation on our part with AFD,” said Merz on Sunday.
“We are fighting for political majorities in the center of our democratic spectrum,” said Merz during an inspection of the room for the party congress which takes place Monday in Berlin.
When asked if he would accept the AFD votes in order to obtain a majority in the likely case that no party wins outright, Merz replied: “No.”
The reduction of the CDU of the support of AFD to the far right in Parliament last week aroused generalized fury in Germany. On Wednesday, the CDU adopted a non -binding movement on migration with the help of AFD, breaking a taboo in modern German politics.
The passage of the “firewall” by Merz invites the former member of the CDU to leave the party
In doing so, Merz, the forerunner before the next elections, broke the “firewall” set up in the aftermath of horrors victims of Nazi Germany.
Since the end of the Second World War and the Holocaust, there has been a consensus among the traditional political parties of Germany according to which the FAR and the extreme right should never be authorized to govern again. This so-called “firewall” has also extended to open collaboration with far-right parts in any title.
The stricter asylum bill was rejected by the legislators later in the week, but the repercussions did not end.
Michel Friedman, former politician and vice-president of the central council of Jews in Germany, announced his resignation from the CDU, citing the collaboration of the party with AFD on migration policy. The decision marked what Friedman described as “a catastrophic watershed for democracy”.
Friedman attended the Sunday’s demonstration in Berlin, saying that Germany must remain focused on the prevention of the extreme right.
Referring to AFD, Friedman said: “The hatred party is the party that is not based on democracy.” He added that he could not excuse the CDU’s error by asking for AFD’s support for the bill, although he is not below the adoption in Parliament.
“Do not make yourself too easy for ourselves and do not easily make the hatred party by leaping on the CDU, especially in an electoral campaign, instead of ensuring that one in five does not vote for AFD “, he says.
During the weekend, tens of thousands of people went down to the streets in Aixen, Augsburg, Braunschweig, Bremen, Cologne, Essen, Francfurt, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Würzburg and a number of smaller cities, for Protest against the CDU / CSU to make AFD AFD Support.
JSI / WD (AFP, DPA, EPD)
