DRESDEN: Around35,000 people marched against hate and racism in the eastern German of cityDresden, organizers said, a week before state elections when far-right partyAfD is projected to make huge gains. Under the banner "indivisible",a broad coalition of artists, unionists and politicians gathered to urge votersto reject exclusion, which they argue is championed by right-wing extremists.The three-hour march took place in a relaxed atmosphere under the warm summersun in the picturesque baroque city, one of the most popular tourismdestinations in the former communist east.
But Dresden isalso the cradle of the Islamophobic movement Pegida, and the state of Saxony isa stronghold of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party. Organizershad predicted around 10,000 people to turn up for the march, so 35,000 wellexceeded their expectations. Many at the protest held aloft signs that read:"No place for Nazis" and "Racism is not an alternative".One of the marchers, 27-year-old Berlin teacher Janna Rakowski, said she wanted"to show the people of Dresden that they are not alone in the fightagainst racism.
"We want toshow our solidarity in this particular situation before the elections inSaxony," she told AFP. A spokeswoman for the organizers, Susann Riske,said: "We want to do something against the current political climate andsupport those who oppose hatred and violence every day." Greta Schmidt, a66-year-old retiree from Dresden, held up a sign reading "Grandmas againstthe extreme right". "The people are very dissatisfied... the bigparties have sabotaged their chances," she said.
'Moment of truth'
Before the marchstarted, organizers said they expected at least 10,000 people to turn up at theprotest, while about 70 kilometers away, the co-leader of the AfD AlexanderGauland is due to address a rally in the city of Chemnitz. An AfD candidate inthe Saxony election, Nico Koehler, on Saturday denied his party is racist,calling such charges "propaganda designed to get left-wing parties intothe state assembly".
He also called onother parties to enter into dialogue with the AfD. "Democracy starts withinterpersonal dialogue... even with those you consider the enemy," he saidat a campaign stall in Chemnitz. New polls show the AfD party running neck andneck with Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party in Saxony. In the state ofBrandenburg, the region surrounding Berlin, some surveys even see the AfDtopping the polls, which would be a major blow for Merkel's junior coalitionpartners, the Social Democrats (SPD).
If a strongshowing by the AfD is confirmed in both regional polls, it could throw Merkel'scoalition into a new crisis by potentially heightening calls for the SPD topull the plug on the partnership. For the organizers of Saturday's march, theregional elections, together with October 27 polls in the state of Thuringia,will be the "moment of truth for democracy". Under the banner#indivisible, the collective of activists managed to get a quarter of a millionpeople on the streets in Berlin last October to defend inclusion and unity.
That march wasorganized with Germany still shocked by xenophobic attacks in a Saxony city,Chemnitz, in the aftermath of the stabbing of a German by a migrant. AfDpoliticians then also joined in a silent march through Chemnitz alongside thehead of Pegida, as well as neo-Nazis. Since its entry into the Bundestag afterthe 2017 general election, the far-right AfD has shaken up German politics,including breaching taboos such as openly questioning Germany's atonementculture over World War II.
Itsanti-immigrant and anti-Islam rhetoric has proved attractive to those resentfulof Merkel's decision to let in more than a million asylum seekers since the2015 refugee crisis. The former communist east has been most receptive to theAfD, with part of the population feeling left behind economically as villagesare depleted of younger inhabitants, many of whom have headed to westernGermany for better paying jobs or opportunities.- AFP