Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Germany on Thursday to protest against the conservative parties of the Democratic Christian Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU / CSU).
The demonstrations occurred one day after the candidate of Chancellor Friedrich Merz worked with the extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD) to push the anti-immigration bill through the lower chamber of the German Parliament , the Bundestag.
Berlin police said the size of the crowd at the CDU headquarters was around 6,000, more than the 4,000 expected, but less than the 13,000 assertive organizers were there.
The organizers accuse Merz of “rendering extremism AFD socially acceptable”
Wednesday’s vote was severely criticized by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party of Center-Gauche (SPD), the Greens and many groups of the Society of the Church and Civil Society as a taboo violation post-war period against cooperation with extremist parties.
Until now, all the main German parties have respected custom, having taken the lesson of the rise of the Nazis in power through democratic structures. The FDP adapted to business also voted with Merz.
The alliance “Together against the law” called for the protest on Thursday under the motto, “no cooperation with AFD”.
The protest co-organizer Carolin Moser, for example, accused Merz and the CDU / CSU of making “the right of the right of AFD socially acceptable”.
Previous action causes a police investigation
As a precaution, employees of the headquarters of the CDU party were invited to return home early Thursday, before the evening demonstration.
The security services would have warned that the safe exit of the building could not be guaranteed later, although the police described the atmosphere during the event as “peaceful”.
Earlier in the day, a group of approximately 30 to 50 demonstrators made their way in a CDU district office in the western Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, where individuals call the alliance ” Resistance “required the party to stop all cooperation with AFD.
The disturbance lasted about an hour, during which the furniture would have been vandalized but in which no one was injured.
The police, who opened an investigation to find out if the rally has violated the laws on assemblies, said they had made three reports on material damage and accusations of intrusion.
The demonstrators crush the Merz rally in Dresden
Thousands of demonstrators have also gathered in the city of Dresden in eastern Dresden to express their anger. Merz was in the city for a campaign rally before the next German elections on February 23.
The demonstrators walked in the streets of the city chanting, “shame on you!” And “Friedrich Merz is a risk of security for our democracy”.
For his part, Merz demanded social democratic leaders and green parties, “calls for moderation, restraint. And for us in the political center of our country to achieve an agreement on the key issues to which we must discuss and decide together “.
The head of the opposition said: “Part of our freedom is the right to demonstrate, but those who block the trams, damaging the CDU district offices and paralyzing the (head office of the CDU in) Adenauer House Berlin is too much. “
Merz says something should be done on immigration
With immigration and the economy the biggest questions about the spirit of voters before the next elections, Merz has been accused of making politics with German democracy.
However, he insisted that it was not his fault if he depends on a party that was labeled by the intelligence services as extreme in part, to adopt more severe immigration laws.
His push came on the heels of another deadly attack by an individual who was supposed to have been expelled in Afghanistan but remained in Germany.
Friday, the Bundestag debates and will vote on another bill on the legislation on migration of the CDU / CSU.
Unlike the bill on Wednesday, the legislation to adopt on Friday would be legally restrictive, although it must be approved by the upper room of the Parliament, the Bundesrat, before it becomes law.
JS / ZC (AFP, DPA)
