Thousands of people across the country took to the streets on the weekend, participating in numerous rallies and demonstrations against the AfD and the feared cooperation of the CDU and CSU with it. According to media reports, hundreds of thousands of people turned out in all federal states, with the largest gathering in Berlin, where the organizers claimed that around 250,000 people marched to the CDU’s party headquarters. The rbb, a German public broadcaster, cited the Berlin police in its estimate of at least 160,000 demonstrators.
The demonstration procession started at the Reichstag building, went through the Street of the 17th of June and ended at the Konrad-Adenauer-House, the CDU’s party headquarters. The participants used their phone lights and there were jeers for the CDU’s candidate, Friedrich Merz. At the opening rally, the journalist Michel Friedman, who recently left the CDU in protest of the “joint voting” with the AfD, spoke to the crowd.
In Leipzig, the local newspaper LVZ reported that around 10,000 people took part in the demonstration, carrying placards that branded the AfD, CDU and FDP as “right-wing” together.
In Bavaria, the main demonstrations took place in smaller and medium-sized cities on Sunday, with around 4,000 participants in Augsburg and Würzburg.
Earlier on Saturday, protests had already taken place in various cities, including Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Braunschweig and Bremen. The organizers claimed that 80,000 people took part in the Hamburg demonstration, while the police estimated the number at 65,000. Thousands also gathered in Cologne, with the police reporting around 14,000 in Essen.