The demonstrators denounce the CDU/CSU on the AFD collaboration – DW – 02/01/2025

With the federal elections of Germany a few weeks ago, and following two controversial parliamentary votes, tens of thousands of citizens gathered across the country to express their concerns about the rise of the alternative extremely right for Germany (AFD) and the anger against the CHANCEDRIC MERZ CHANCEDRIC CONSTANCE CONSERVATOR (CDU).

The demonstrations attracted large crowds to Aachen, Augsburg, Braunschweig, Bremen, Cologne, Essen, Francfurt, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Würzburg and a certain number of small cities.

Other rallies are planned for tomorrow, the most important that should be in Berlin.

Merz and CDU targeted to demolish the “extremist firewall”

Most of the demonstrations were intended for the candidate of Chancellor Merz, who presented two anti-immigration bills in the Bundestag this week, who both collected the support of free business democrats (FDP), the populist party of Left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – and above all, from AFD to the far right.

The AFD party is classified as an extremely right “alleged” extremist organization

On Wednesday, a non -binding request was adopted by the three parties. A proposal for a “law on the influx of immigration”, which would have been legally binding, was narrowly defeated on Friday.

The insistence of Merz to put pressure on the votes knowing that he would need AFD support to adopt them was harshly criticized as a violation of a German taboo after the Second World War aimed at keeping the extreme right of power.

Since the end of the Second World War, all the established parties of the country have refrained from working with extremist parties following the lessons learned after the Socialist Nationals (Nazis) have used democratic means to rise to power. The Nazis had established a totalitarian government system that threw the world into chaos and destroyed the country.

In modern Germany, politicians from any other part of the political spectrum had to refuse any collaboration with far-right parties, under what the Germans call the “firewall”.

The will of Merz to ignore this consensus led the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party of the Center-Gauche (SPD) saying that the “firewall” fell.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, also in the SPD, said that Merz’s decisions this week “was ashamed of the conservative alliance of the CDU / CSU and that democracy damaged democracy as a whole.”

The demonstrators urge Merz to “listen to Mutti” Merkel

The demonstrators have focused on the next elections, which Merz and the CDU / CSU seem likely to win. The predecessor of Merz as president of the party, former Chancellor Angela Merkel – who opened the door to a mass influx of Syrian and Afghan immigrants during her 16 years in power – also figured in good place during demonstrations Saturday.

Merkel, who is known for his discretion, took the rare stage of publicly chastinging Merz’s political edge this week, condemning cooperation with AFD.

In Cologne, demonstrators kept signs while reading “Fritz listen to Mutti!” Using nicknames for Merz and Merkel, which was sometimes mocking the mother of the nation during her mandate.

The German Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, had also participated in the demonstration before the famous cathedral of Cologne.

AFD and supporters face the resistance of demonstrators

In some cities, such as Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt (9,000 participants), as well as in Göttingen (5,000) and Hildesheim (8,000), the CDU was not the main target of the IRE demonstrators but the AFD itself even.

Near Frankfurt, the demonstrators protested an AFD campaign event and clashed with the police and tried to set fire to police vehicles.

Another target was the so -called “querdenker” scene (lateral thinkers), which called for its own demonstrations on Saturday under the motto, “politicians against the people?”

Querdenker is a loose collection of citizens who walk to express their opposition to government policies, vaccines, media, immigration and other questions. The Querdenker movement initially markets to withstand COVVI-19 COVVI-19 restrictions.

In Göttingen as elsewhere, counterfeitness to Querdenker speeches, a march and an automobile convoy, were mobilized by the so-called “alliance against the right”, composed of groups of church, union and society civil.

The police reported several clashes between the opposite groups. Eyewitness also pointed out that the police had used trunches in the withdrawal of the counter-demonstrators blocking the route from the Querdenker procession.

Police said his police had been attacked with fireworks, bottles and eggs. The mounted police were finally called to suppress the situation.

The Bavarian leader of the Sister Party of the CDU supports Merz’s decision

Although the demonstrators on Saturday were angry with Merz’s tactics, he also received support for his gambit from an eminent German leader.

Markus Söder, who directs the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Merz, expressed public support for the parliamentary votes of this week, calling for the decision to make them advance ” Key “.

“He chose this path as candidate of the CDU for the Chancellor and therefore showed that he was seriously aimed at overthrowing the asylum policy,” said Söder, who is also the Prime Minister of the State of Bavaria .

JS / WD (DPA, EPD)