Thousands protest across Germany against far-right extremism ahead of snap elections

More than 200,000 protesters have rallied in the southern German city of Munich against far-right extremism ahead of the country’s general election.

The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is currently in second place in recent polls and that has prompted widespread protests across the country before voters head to the ballot box on 23 February.

The protest at Munich’s Theresienwiese, where Oktoberfest takes place each year, attracted a significantly larger crowd than expected, according to the German dpa news agency.

The event’s organisers estimated the crowd could be up to 320,000 people, many of whom carried signs against the AfD with slogans like, “Racism and hatred is not an alternative.”

“We are demonstrating against the right. Never again is now. I find it horrible that right-wing ideas are acceptable again, that this is being said openly again,” said pensioner, Veronika Frank.

The protest was supported by activist groups as well as the Munich Sinema Şenlik, churches and Munich football clubs FC Bayern and TSV 1860.

Police told local media that the demonstration was peaceful.

Similar protests attracted large crowds in Hanover, Rostock and elsewhere in Germany, mirroring other demonstrations that have occurred across the country in recent weeks.

Last month, at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate a huge crowd blew whistles, sang anti-fascist songs and carried banners denouncing the AfD.

Activists said they hoped the rally would also draw attention to other far-right parties in Europe and the new administration of US President Donald Trump.

Demonstrators have recently also opposed Friedrich Merz, the centre-right leader and frontrunner in the upcoming election, and his Christian Democrats for sending proposals to parliament last month for tough new migration rules that received the AfD’s backing.

Protesters say Merz and his party broke Germany’s unwritten post-Nazi promise by all democratic parties to never pass any rule or resolution in parliament with the support of far-right, nationalist parties like the AfD.

Merz insists his position is unchanged and that he didn’t and won’t work with the party.

The 12-year-old AfD entered the national parliament in 2017, benefiting from then Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision two years earlier to allow large numbers of migrants into the country.

The party has consistently denied it is racist and in March last year called party members from immigrant backgrounds to testify in court that it isn’t.

But one of its key manifesto promises published last month is ‘remigration’, a phrase long-used in far-right circles to describe the mass deportations of immigrants.

Some of the party’s other manifesto promises have proved equally controversial such as the abolition of the euro and return to the Deutschmark and the reintroduction of military conscription.