“Ban the AfD”: Thousands rally across Germany
Monday, 12 May
Thousands of people gathered in Berlin and over 60 cities across Germany this weekend to call for a ban on the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. The demonstrations, co-ordinated by the network Zusammen gegen Rechts and the initiative Menschenwürde verteidigen – AfD-Verbot jetzt, demanded that the federal government launch formal proceedings to outlaw the party, which was recently classified as a confirmed far-right extremist group by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz).
Berlin’s main protest kicked off at 16:00 on Sunday at the Brandenburg Gate, with police estimating around 4,000 participants. Organisers, however, claimed closer to 7,500. Elsewhere in Brandenburg, protesters gathered in Strausberg, Cottbus, Eberswalde and Nauen.
The protests came just days after the AfD’s national classification was upgraded to gesichert rechtsextremistisch (confirmed right-wing extremist) by the Verfassungsschutz, though this designation is currently paused pending a legal challenge from the party to contest the decision. In Brandenburg, the state branch of the AfD has also been given the same classification.
But the political fallout hasn’t stopped with the AfD. Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) is under fire after sacking the head of the Federal office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jörg Müller, for allegedly failing to inform her of the reclassification in time. Critics, including the Greens, have cast doubt on her version of events and are calling for her resignation. Lange has also publicly opposed a ban on the AfD, arguing that the political challenge posed by the AfD must be met primarily through political means.
