In Germany on Saturday, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered to urge people to cast ballots against the extreme right in this week’s European Union primaries.
With placards reading” Stop hatred” and” Down with racism”, around 30, 000 people joined a demonstration in central Berlin, according to Campact, one of the civil groups organising the rally.
Despite a series of scandals, polls suggest the anti-immigration AfD party may garner up to 15 % of the vote in Germany on Sunday– likely its best actually performance.
That had put it in the mix with Social Democratic Party under Secretary of State Olaf Scholz and Christian Democrats in the center-right.
Some protesters in Berlin held up papers with the words” Go vote” and yellow superstars like those on the EU flag.
” There is no better way to defend democracy than to go and vote tomorrow,” ProAsyl environmentalist Tareq Alaows told the audience.
Thousands of people joined related demonstrations in Stuttgart, Leipzig, Dresden, Munich and Frankfurt.
Maximilian Krah, the party’s leader, made remarks that minimized the crimes of the Nazis ‘ SS soldiers, leading to the expulsion of the AfD from a far-right bloc in the European Parliament.
After one of his advisers was detained on suspicion of spying for Beijing, Krah is also being investigated over his relations with China.
Media reported that members of the party were reportedly present at discussions of ideas for widespread expulsions of immigrants from Germany at the beginning of the time.
The document sparked days of mass protests.
Scholz urged voters to cast ballots on Sunday at his last campaign rally in the western city of Duisburg,” to defend democracy and the rule of law.”
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