Protesters say CDU head Friedrich Merz broke post-Nazi norm of never passing any rule with the support of far-right parties.
Tens of thousands of people came out to protest against a conservative push for tougher migration laws backed by a far-right party in Germany.
Angry protesters came out in droves in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Leipzig on Sunday to oppose Friedrich Merz and the move by his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to pass a resolution in parliament with the support of the far-right nationalist Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party.
Many critics say that it broke Germany’s anti-far-right ‘firewall’, an unwritten post-Nazi promise by all democratic parties to never pass any rule with the support of far-right parties.
The CDU and the AfD successfully passed a non-binding resolution on Wednesday in an attempt to block undocumented foreigners at the border, including asylum seekers. However, on Friday, they failed to pass a contentious bill to further restrict immigration.
Merz, whose CDU is running ahead of the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the polling for the upcoming February 23 federal election, is facing unwanted attention over his attitude towards the far right and the AfD.
The AfD has itself been polling in second place, ahead of the SPD.
Hundreds of protesters temporarily blocked offices of the CDU in different cities, with some 160,000 people pouring into the streets of central Berlin, a police spokesman told the AFP news agency. Organisers said that more than 200,000 people turned out.
In separate protests on Saturday, more than 220,000 people protested across the country, according to figures compiled by public broadcaster ARD.
“[We want to] make as much noise as possible to call for the self-described ‘democratic’ parties to protect this democracy,” Anna Schwarz, who attended Sunday’s rally in Berlin, told AFP.
The 34-year-old said she was joining a political rally for the first time as “we can no longer avert our gaze, it’s too serious”.
In Cologne, people protested on 350 boats on the Rhine River, German news agency dpa reported, with people waving slogans such as “No racism” and “For democracy and diversity”.
Breaking the ‘firewall’
Merz took on the bill following a deadly knife attack last month by a rejected asylum seeker.
The CDU leader has been accused by protesters and politicians on the left of breaking a taboo and endangering mainstream parties’ “firewall” against AfD. He insists his position is unchanged and that he didn’t and won’t work with the party.
Polls show the centre-right CDU, which put forward the migration proposal and bill, leading with around 30 percent support, while AfD is second with about 20 percent, and the SPD and Greens further down.
The AfD party – which was formed 12 years ago – first entered the national parliament in 2017, benefitting from then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision two years earlier to allow large numbers of migrants and refugees into the country.
A year ago, hundreds of thousands also protested in weeks-long rallies all over Germany against the rise of the far right and purported plans to deport millions of immigrants, including some holding German passports.
