Wednesday, October 22
We Are the Daughters: Thousands Rally Against Merz
Following his controversial comments from last week, on Monday Chancellor Friedrich Merz doubled down, saying that he sees “Probleme im Stadtbild” and stating that maybe daughters should be asked about what he might have meant by this. These comments impelled thousands to take to the streets and protest in front of the CDU headquarters on Tuesday evening under the slogan ‘We Are the Daughters’.
The alliance ‘Together Against the Right’ had called for the event under the slogan ‘Feminist Rally: We Are the Daughters.’ According to the Berlin police, around 2,000 people took part in the rally, while the organisers estimated 7,500 participants.
Protestors carried signs proclaiming: ‘Racism is a problem in the cityscape,’ ‘Daughters for a colourful cityscape’ and ‘We don’t have a cityscape problem, we have a racism problem’. Environmental activist Luisa Neubauer took to the stage, asserting that “Our unwillingness to participate is being used as an excuse, misused as justification for statements that are nothing less than unacceptable, discriminatory and comprehensively racist.” The protest follows rallies that were held in Berlin and Potsdam on Sunday evening under the slogan ‘Build a firewall! We are the cityscape,’ for diversity and against racism.
