FRANKFURT: Tens of thousands of people came out onto the streets of Frankfurt on Saturday to protest against the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) against the background of growing support for the party.
Police put the numbers at around 35,000 shortly after the protest under the slogan "Defend Democracy" got underway in the centre of Germany's financial capital.
A police spokesman described the atmosphere as peaceful. Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef was expected to address the rally. The protests,which have been running for days, have also drawn support from Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A similar protest in Limburg to the north-west of Frankfurt drew 2,800 earlier on Saturday, considerably more than had been expected.
The countrywide protests were sparked by a report from the news outlet Correctiv which revealed that AfD politicians held a meeting with far-right extremists in November in Potsdam. Members of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the largest opposition party, also attended.
At the Potsdam meeting, far-right extremists discussed topics like"remigration," a term frequently used in far-right circles as a euphemism for the expulsion of immigrants and minorities.
In remarks on Friday, Scholz termed remigration "an attack on our democracy." He welcomed the protests planned for the weekend. "I say it in absolutely clarity and severity: Right-wing extremists are attacking our democracy," he said.
Tens of thousands are expected to join anti-AfD demonstrations across the country this weekend. A mass rally in Hamburg on Friday evening had to be halted on safety grounds, as more people than expected turned out. Police put the numbers at 50,000, while organizers said 80,000 people had attended.
Meanwhile, a thousand German farmers continued their series of protests on Saturday calling for more environmental and animal protection and opposing genetic engineering and unfair prices.
Several hundred people gathered in front of the governing Social Democratic Party headquarters at midday for the start of the agricultural demonstration, police said.
The rally, which was joined by another 7,000 protesters in front of the chancellery, was held under the banner, "Good food needs a future- for GMO-free, rural and environmentally friendly agriculture!"
Some 40 to 50 tractors made their way to the German capital in the morning, with some holding banners such as "Farmers' land belongs in farmers' hands", "Food is political!" and "Farmers before corporate interests." — dpa
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