 <figure class="article__cover-figure"> <picture> <img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/833/3333/3333/320/320/75/0/f8982ef_1705912181575-056605.jpg" alt="Images Le Monde.fr" width="100%" height="auto"> </picture> <figcaption class="article__copyright"> Ebrahim Noroozi / AP </figcaption> </figure> 

  <div class="article__header-wrap"> <h1 class="article__title">Germany mobilizes against rise of the far right</h1> <span class="meta__authors meta__authors--longform"> By&nbsp;<a class="article__author-link" href="/en/signataires/thomas-wieder/">Thomas Wieder</a>&nbsp;<span class="author__desc author__desc--header">(Dresden (Germany) special correspondent)</span> </span> <section class="meta__date-reading"> <span class="meta__publisher">Published today at 12:35 pm (Paris)</span> <p class="meta__reading-time meta__reading-time--header meta__reading-time--longform"> <span class="icon__reading-time"></span> <span class="sr-only">Time to </span> 5 min. <a class="meta__article-en-fr-url meta__article-en-fr-url--longform js-lang-switcher" href="/international/article/2024/01/22/l-allemagne-se-mobilise-dans-la-rue-contre-la-montee-de-l-extreme-droite_6212235_3210.html" hreflang="fr"> <span class="meta__article-en-fr-url-link">Lire en français</span> </a> </p> </section> <section class="article__info"> <section class="article__meta"><p class="article__status"><span class="icon__premium"></span>Subscribers only</p> </section> <section class="article__stand-first"><p class="article__desc"><span class="article__kicker">News</span>More than 1.4 million people took part in marches across the country this weekend, in protest at the xenophobic policies of the Alternative for Germany party, which some are now seeking to ban.</p></section> </section> </div> 

 <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">On January 11, in an interview broadcast on ARD public television, Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence service, expressed concern at the passivity of his fellow citizens in the face of rising anti-democratic forces.</p> <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">"People retreat into the comfort of their private lives and don't realize the threats to our democracy today," he said. "I hope that society will wake up and that the silent majority will finally take a stand against extremism in our country."</p> <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">In the 10 days that have passed, Germany indeed seems to have awoken. Haldenwang, however, has had little to do with it. When hundreds of thousands of Germans demonstrated against the far right on Friday, January 19 and Saturday, January 20 and Sunday, January 21, it was not in response to the secret service chief's injunction, but to a journalistic investigation published on January 10 on the website <a href="https://correctiv.org/en/top-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Nouvelle fenêtre">Correctiv</a>.</p> <section class="catcher catcher--favoris"> <div class="catcher__content"><span class="catcher__title catcher__title--hide">Read more</span><span class="catcher__desc"> <span class="icon__premium"><span class="sr-only">Article réservé à nos abonnés</span></span> <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/01/11/leaders-of-germany-s-far-right-afd-party-are-considering-mass-expulsion-of-germans-of-foreign-origin_6422332_4.html" class="js-article-read-also catcher--favoris__link" data-premium="1">German far-right party leaders planned mass deportation laws with neo-Nazis</a> </span> </div> </section> <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">In this investigation we learned that several leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party had discreetly met in a hotel in Potsdam, near Berlin, on November 25, 2023, to listen to an Austrian far-right ideologue, Martin Sellner, advocate the "remigration" of "millions" of immigrants and Germans of foreign origin to a "model state" in North Africa. And that none of them had ever opposed such a project. Quite the contrary, in fact.</p> <h2 class="article__sub-title">Snowball effect</h2> <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">The article prompted a reaction from the country's highest authorities. A few hours after its publication, Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on the social media network X (formerly Twitter) that "those who oppose our liberal and democratic basic order face justice." Five days later, alongside his foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, he was one of some 10,000 people rallying against the far right in Potsdam – demonstrating alongside his fellow citizens for the first time since his election in 2021.</p>  <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">According to the civic organization Campact and the environmentalist collective Fridays for Future, which were among the organizers of the movement, more than 1.4 million people took part in the marches held across Germany on Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 350,000 in Berlin, 250,000 in Munich, 160,000 in Hamburg, 70,000 in Cologne and 50,000 in Bremen and Dresden.</p> <figure class="article__media article__media--default "> <img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 664 443'%3E%3C/svg%3E" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/6342/4190/630/0/75/0/2b3946d_1705912192056-051399.jpg 1x, https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/6342/4190/1260/0/45/0/2b3946d_1705912192056-051399.jpg 2x" alt="Images Le Monde.fr" width="100%" height="auto"> <noscript><img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/6342/4190/630/0/75/0/2b3946d_1705912192056-051399.jpg" alt="A demonstration against the far right in Stralsund, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, January 19, 2024."></noscript> <figcaption class="article__legend" aria-hidden="true">A demonstration against the far right in Stralsund, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, January 19, 2024. <span class="article__credit" aria-hidden="true">STEFAN SAUER / AP</span> </figcaption> </figure> <figure class="article__media article__media--wide"> <img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 664 443'%3E%3C/svg%3E" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/5850/3761/1920/0/75/0/5d6c9d4_1705912195981-053009.jpg 1x, https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/5850/3761/3840/0/45/0/5d6c9d4_1705912195981-053009.jpg 2x, https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/5850/3761/5760/0/45/0/5d6c9d4_1705912195981-053009.jpg 3x, https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/5850/3761/7680/0/45/0/5d6c9d4_1705912195981-053009.jpg 4x" alt="Images Le Monde.fr" width="100%" height="auto"> <noscript><img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/5850/3761/1920/0/75/0/5d6c9d4_1705912195981-053009.jpg" alt=" &quot;Never again 1933&quot; on a sign at a demonstration in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on January 20, 2024."></noscript> <figcaption class="article__legend" aria-hidden="true">"Never again 1933" on a sign at a demonstration in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on January 20, 2024. <span class="article__credit" aria-hidden="true">MICHAEL PROBST / AP</span> </figcaption> </figure> <figure class="article__media article__media--default "> <img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 664 443'%3E%3C/svg%3E" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/7183/4709/630/0/75/0/d47f131_1705912181499-053010.jpg 1x, https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/7183/4709/1260/0/45/0/d47f131_1705912181499-053010.jpg 2x" alt="Images Le Monde.fr" width="100%" height="auto"> <noscript><img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2024/01/22/0/0/7183/4709/630/0/75/0/d47f131_1705912181499-053010.jpg" alt="A demonstration against the far right in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, January 20, 2024."></noscript> <figcaption class="article__legend" aria-hidden="true">A demonstration against the far right in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, January 20, 2024. <span class="article__credit" aria-hidden="true">MICHAEL PROBST / AP</span> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="article__paragraph article__paragraph--lf">In the eastern state of Saxony, where the AfD could come out on top in the regional election (the party claims 35% of voting intentions there, according to the latest polls), between several hundred and several thousand demonstrators pounded the pavements in smaller towns such as Görlitz, Chemnitz and Pirna, all unaccustomed to rallies of this size.</p> <p><strong>You have 65% of this article left to read. 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More than 1.4 million people took part in marches across the country this weekend, in protest at the xenophobic policies of the Alternative for Germany party, which some are now seeking to ban.{ai:summary}<p>More than 1.4 million people marched in Germany this weekend to protest against the xenophobic policies of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. The protests were sparked by a journalistic investigation revealing that leaders of the party had met with a far-right ideologue to discuss mass deportations. #society</p>