Protests in Germany against the AFD party. Photo credit: Fabian Sommer / DPA / Profimedia
Thousands of people have manifested in Germany on Sunday for AFD ban, while this anti-immigration party challenges a decision of internal information services to classify it as a “extremist”, AFP and Agerpres reports.
The protesters gathered in over 60 cities, from Koln to Hamburg, passing through Berlin, to the call of the associative network “Zusammen Gegen Rechts” (“Together against the right”).
“AFD is not a normal party and should not be treated as such. Now it is time to seriously examine the prohibition of the party,” says on the network website.
In Berlin, the rally from the emblematic bears Brandenburg attracted over 7,000 people in the afternoon, according to the organizers, or 3,000, according to the police.
They chanted “all together against fascism”, displaying flags in the colors of the rainbow and banners against the party, which obtained 20% of the votes in the last legislative elections.
▶ ️ A mass demonstration angainst the right-wing force and alternative for #Germany (AFD) is taking like in #Berlina tass correspondent reports
Initially, The Organizers Said That 5,000 People would take part in the demonstration. Berlin's Police Confirm 4,000 participants… pic.twitter.com/zf9tdcfkm– Oncensored News (@uncensorednewsw) May 11, 2025
A few days before the investment of the new Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the internal intelligence services have classified AFD as a “extremist” right, which means it can be a danger to democratic order.
On Thursday, the German internal intelligence services temporarily suspended this decision waiting for the justice, notified with a party appeal, to announce its decision.
The decision has already caused acute political tensions, especially in relations with the Trump administration, which took the AFD.
Also, the decision reinvigorated the debate on its prohibition, a delicate topic for Friedrich Merz, responsible for limiting the elevation of the formation, which reached second in the February legislative elections.
“The CDU must, in the shortest time, deal with the dangers represented by AFD and position it clearly,” the Britta Hasselmann, the head of the Ecological Fraction in Bundestag, asked in an interview for a RND.
So far, the Conservatives have expressed their opposition, in order not to strengthen AFD in its alleged victim role.
