What will the anti-AfD protests achieve?

Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

Over the past fortnight German has witnessed some of the largest protests in living memory. While the exact numbers are disputed, we are talking about a million or maybe more people who have taken to the streets to march against the AfD.

Protesters carried signs that read “EkelhAfD” (a play on the word ekelhaft, meaning disgusting) or “nie wieder ist jetzt” - never again is now - a reference to the Nazi era.

The protests were sparked by a report by the investigative website Correctiv on a “secret meeting” between AfD figures and the leader of the extremist Identitarian Movement, who wants an ethnically “pure” Europe.

It is the first time that the German public has taken to the streets in such large numbers to protest against the far-Right party, even though it has long been known that some inside the AfD have links to Germany’s neo-Nazi scene.

Responses to the protests in the media have generally been positive.

The left-leaning Der Spiegel comm…