Friday 2, February
“We are the firewall”: 100,000 registered for demonstration against far-right
Two weeks ago, as many as 350,000 people took to the streets of Berlin to display their opposition to the rise of the AfD and their recently revealed plans for “Remigration”, that is, the mass deportation of foreigners from Germany. This weekend, it looks like Berlin will see another demonstration of a similar size, if not bigger, with 100,000 people already registered to take part in a massive human chain at the Reichstag building on Saturday at 13:00.
The protest has been organised under the motto “We are the firewall” and is intended to display that when institutions and political parties fail, it is up to the people to stand up against right-wing extremism. A statement published by the organisers reads: “In Germany, the political landscape is developing alarmingly: right-wing and right-wing extremist views are gaining public support… Join the firewall against the right!”
It’s worth remembering, too, that it wasn’t just AfD members conspiring at that mansion in Potsdam. Both at that event and other meetings with the same far-right figures, CDU members were also present. Just yesterday, in fact, Hans-Georg Maaßen, the person who ran Germany’s state security service until 2018 – the Bundesverfassungsschutz – was named as a right-wing extremist by the very organisation over which he used to preside.
