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Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

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Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#3
To add some context: at least in Munich, this protest was - no matter if you trust the police count at 100k people or the organizers' at 320k (they also count the people in the side streets or those stuck in completely overcrowded public transport) - the largest ever since the 1992 "Lichterkette" protests, which in turn also were protests against the rising far-right, that time it was terrorism like the riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen [1].

[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ausschreitungen_in_Rostock-Lic...

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#6

Do the reverse of these protests ever happen? Are there some days where right wing people protest with similar numbers?

Dresden was infamous for a few years with the PEGIDA rallies, these routinely pulled thousands of people in the beginning [1], and eventually federally. But even then, the numbers were orders of magnitude less than what happened the last week, and after a few months it all but fizzled out. Dresden is the last holdout of PEGIDA left, with a few hundred people in attendance every few weeks, and Munich held out with literally 3-5 people up until Covid hit.

[1] https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/pegida-und-...

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#7

Do the reverse of these protests ever happen? Are there some days where right wing people protest with similar numbers?

The biggest „right wing“ protests probably where during peak Covid and didn’t reach these numbers.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#8
That's not a lot, in a country of millions. We do much more in France, every year. And it's been showing diminishing returns, as the government realized it could just not listen, and nothing bad would happen.

In fact, it's a drop in the sea, compared to the rising casual xenophobia I can notice with my German acquaintances, friends, and even family. Medias, general discussions, and overall atmosphere is not going in the direction of peace.

The fact that they welcomed many African refugees in the last few years increased the tensions, and the Russian crisis made economy a big focus. As a result, there is a general feeling of unfairness which politics use to push a divisive narrative.

Prices have gone up, which in most countries is visible, but quality has gone down, and in Germany, this is a sin. Everything is touched by this: transport, food, service...

And when people are unhappy, you can sell them an enemy.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#9

Do the reverse of these protests ever happen? Are there some days where right wing people protest with similar numbers?

Not in modern Germany yet, no. Their protests are rather small in comparison and often met with much larger anti protests.

However, the far right party AfD has been gaining lots of votes over the last few years. It will be interesting to see whether these protests are the beginning of a reversal of that trend.

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