Several thousand people protested against the AfD at Brandenburger Tor on Monday following the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. Organisers estimated that approximately 14,000 people were present. Among the participants were climate and political activist Luisa Neubauer and the leading candidates of the Die Grünen and Die Linke party for the Berlin election on September 20.
Banners read, among other things, “Fascism is not an alternative” and “Stop racism and social cutbacks.” The demonstrators chanted, “All together against fascism.”
The AfD won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday by a large margin but fell short of an absolute majority. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD’s state branch in Saxony-Anhalt as a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation. An AfD government now appears possible in the eastern German state.
Demonstrators gathered in Potsdam’s Old Market Square yesterday evening to protest against the AfD. “The possibility of an AfD-led state government in Saxony-Anhalt fills us with great concern,” wrote the organisers of the alliance “Potsdam! Shows Its Colours!”. “Such a change of government would not be an ordinary political shift, but a watershed moment for democratic culture in Germany.”
