Image source: BBC/JENNY WITT
Comment on the photo,
The city of Hamburg witnessed thousands of demonstrators
3 hours ago
About a quarter of a million people participated in demonstrations across Germany on Saturday, as demonstrators came out to protest the fact that politicians, mostly affiliated with the extreme right, raised the issue of deporting millions of people with immigrant backgrounds for discussion, according to reports.
The Correctiv investigative journalism website published a shocking report about a secret meeting in a hotel near the capital, Berlin, in November, in the presence of about 20 politicians, including prominent figures from the Alternative for Germany party and other neo-Nazis, according to what was stated in the report.
The meeting was also attended by at least two members of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, to which former Chancellor Angela Merkel belongs.
According to the report, discussions centered on the deportation of millions of asylum seekers, non-integrated people, and those who do not belong to German origins – even if they have the right to reside or have been naturalized.
Since the report saw the light, huge anti-AfD marches have taken place in Berlin, Cologne, and Hamburg, as well as more marches expected to take place later this week.
The official Deutsche Welle network said that hundreds of thousands participated in demonstrations across Germany on Saturday.
Peter Tschencher, mayor of Hamburg (belonging to the center left), who participated among 50,000 others in a protest in the heart of the city on Friday, said: “We are united and determined not to let our country and our democracy be destroyed for the second time since 1945,” directing his words to the Alternative for Germany party.
For its part, the (extremist) Alternative for Germany party tried to distance itself from this matter, after it was reported that its politicians participated in this discussion.
The party accused those it said were “political opponents” of trying to tarnish its reputation. Representative Bernd Baumann said, addressing politicians from the ruling coalition: “You are filled with panic. We can smell your fear.”
Many demonstrators expressed their shock at the deportation plan, and their concern about the growing influence of the Alternative for Germany party.
A German citizen of Latin American origins said: “I feel threatened, and I am already preparing plans to leave Germany, as I no longer feel safe here.”
Demonstrations were expected to take place in about 100 cities across Germany on Saturday and Sunday, according to local media.
For his part, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the demonstrators, warning that any “deportation plan” was tantamount to “an attack on our democracy and therefore on all of us.”
Image source: Reuters
Comment on the photo,
Anti-AfD demonstration in Hamburg on Friday
The AfD leadership responded with a mixture of defensive rebuttals and efforts to distance themselves from the controversy raised by the Correctiv report.
The AfD leadership insists that the aforementioned meeting was not organized by the party, in addition to that it was a private meeting and was not secret.
“Of course everyone who has German citizenship is part of our people,” said Alyssa Weidel, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party.
Weidel condemned any idea of banning the AfD.
25 Social Democrats in the German Parliament (Bundestag) called for discussing a ban on the Alternative for Germany party, especially with regard to “extremist” associations affiliated with the party.
The German constitution stipulates that parties that seek to undermine the “free democratic basic order” must be classified as “unconstitutional.”
Earlier, German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck accused the Alternative for Germany party of seeking to transform Germany into a Russian-style authoritarian regime, while some saw it as implicit support for imposing a ban on the party.
Image source: CLEMENS BILAN/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Comment on the photo,
Alyssa Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, condemned talk of banning the party
The Alternative for Germany party did well in opinion polls conducted in recent months, coming in second behind the opposition conservatives.
The rise of the AfD coincided with a state of dissatisfaction prevailing among voters regarding the government’s performance, especially on issues related to the cost of living and the influx of immigrants.
The Alternative for Germany party hopes to achieve major victories in the European Parliament elections next June.
The AfD is also likely to emerge as the strongest party in the next elections in September, especially in the three eastern German states: Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg.
Any move to impose a ban on the party would entail political risks, in addition to the legal obstacles it might raise.
#Immigration #rightwing #German #parties #succeed #deporting #citizens #immigrants #asylum #seekers #BBC #News #Arabic
2024-01-21 01:57:25
