2024–2025 German anti-extremism protests

In early 2024,^[1] widespread protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party took place in Germany, after a report by investigative journalist group Correctiv revealed the presence of in-office party members at the meeting of right-wing extremists at Potsdam in 2023, centered on "remigration" proposals to organize mass deportations of foreign-born Germans, including those with German citizenship. Protesters have "sought", as declared by the organizers, to defend the German democracy from the AfD, with many protesters calling for the party to be investigated by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or banned altogether. A second protest wave erupted in early 2025, shortly before the federal election held on 23 February.

2024-2025 German anti-right-wing extremism protests
Protests in Stuttgart, 20 January 2024
Date	13 January 2024 (2024-01-13) – present (1 year, 6 months, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location	Germany
Caused by	2023 Potsdam far-right meeting
Goals	Investigation or banning of the Alternative for Germany
Methods	Political demonstration, nonviolent resistance
Status	Protests ended by mid-2024; new wave of protests began in early 2025

Background

Main article: 2023 Potsdam far-right meeting

Adlon mansion, where AfD politicians and two CDU politicians^[2] met with followers of the Identitarian movement

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was established in 2013 as a right-wing eurosceptic party. It began gaining political power following the 2015 European migrant crisis, in which around one million migrants fleeing military conflicts during the Arab Winter were resettled in Germany. The AfD first entered the Bundestag in the 2017 German federal election, becoming the third-largest party behind the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD). After a drop in the 2021 federal election, the AfD began to regain popularity after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, finding new appeal as the defender of the economically precarious class which struggled with the global energy crisis and cost inflation caused by the invasion.^[3][4] Political analysts saw the AfD as benefiting both from dissent within the ruling traffic light coalition about how to carry out the transformation of the country into a competitive digitized economy, and from attempts by the opposition party CDU/CSU to regain voters from the AfD themselves through adopting in particular a tougher stance on migration.^[4] By July 2023, the AfD was polling as the second-most popular political party in Germany at 20%, behind only the CDU. The same year, it also elected two officials for the first time in its history.^[5]

On 10 January 2024, investigative journalist group Correctiv published information revealing that members of the AfD had met Identitarian movement activists in the city of Potsdam, where plans to "remigrate" foreign-born Germans, including non-citizens as well as those with German citizenship, were proposed. The report gained massive traction in Germany, with critical comparisons being made to the 1940 Madagascar Plan to deport four million Jews; comparisons to the 1942 Wannsee Conference, at which the Final Solution was organized, were also circulating.^[6][7] The mentioning of the Wannsee Conference in the Correctiv report was criticized even though the report had not explicitly compared the two events.^[8] Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said that the Correctiv revelations had evoked memories of the conference, but that she did not want to equate the two events.^[9]

AfD leader Alice Weidel defended the party, saying that she had removed those involved in the meeting, and lambasted Correctiv journalists as "left-wing activists using Stasi methods".^[7] Two members of the conservative Values Union, a faction of the CDU, also attended the event, and following the backlash, the group's leader Hans-Georg Maaßen announced the movement was severing its ties with the CDU.^[10] The Values Union announced on 20 January that it would establish itself as a political party.^[11]

Protests in 2024

Protests in Berlin, 14 January 2024

After several smaller-scale protests, in the evening of 12 January 2024 around 2,000 protested against the AfD at its Hamburg headquarters. The next day, a rally in Duisburg against an AfD new year's reception attracted around 2,400 protesters according to police, far more than anticipated by organizers at the time of registering the rally with authorities, which was before the Correctiv revelations. Also on 13 January, around 650 protesters in Düsseldorf demanded the investigation of the AfD to examine the possibility of its prohibition.^[12] On 14 January, thousands protested in Potsdam and at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Among those present at the protests in Potsdam on 14 January were chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, both members of the Bundestag from the city. Interviewed by Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Baerbock said that the protesters were "for democracy and against old and new fascism," while Potsdam mayor Mike Schubert said that the remigration plans "are reminiscent of the darkest chapter of German history."^[13]

Protests continued to draw larger crowds throughout the week, including a protest in Cologne, in which around 30,000 people participated. Non-AfD politicians from across Germany's political spectrum expressed support for the protests, with Scholz writing on Twitter that "We won't allow anyone to distinguish the 'we' in our country based on whether someone has an immigration history or not," pro-business Free Democratic Party politician Christian Dürr directly comparing the AfD to the Nazi Party,^[3] Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from the Green Party describing the protests as "impressive" for democracy,^[14] and CDU leader Friedrich Merz expressing that it was "very encouraging that thousands of people are demonstrating peacefully against right-wing extremism."^[10]

Various churches throughout Germany called on people to protest the AfD, as did coaches of the Bundesliga.^[10] Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, described the protests as restoring Jews' faith in German democracy after it having been damaged following antisemitism during the Gaza war.^[15] The AfD was also condemned by several businesses, including Siemens,^[14] Evonik Industries, Infineon Technologies, and Düsseldorf Airport.^[16]

Protests in Hamburg, 19 January 2024

The size of the protests exceeded expectations by both police and the organizers; initial estimates of 50,000–80,000 people protesting in Hamburg on 19 January were increased in February 2024 by the city's interior authority to 180,000, after recalculation.^[17] Hamburg's mayor, Peter Tschentscher, spoke against the AfD at the protest, saying "We are the majority and we are strong, because we are united and we are determined not to let our country and our democracy be destroyed for a second time after 1945."^[18]

Between 19 and 21 January, protests reached a size of 1.4 million people, according to organizers Campact and Fridays for Future. A planned march in Munich was cancelled for safety concerns, as 100,000 people, four times the registered amount, had arrived for the protest, according to local police. Members of the German government urged protests to continue, with Scholz urging as many people as possible to come out for democracy.^[15]

The protest in Berlin on 3 February, attendance estimates of which ranged from 150,000 to 300,000^[19][20] participants, was organized by a collective which included about 1,700 organizations from civil society, sports, and culture, as well as trade unions. The collective, which had formed before the Correctiv revelations,^[21] voiced its intent to continue the rallies for the longer term.^[22]

As part of the protests, various proposals to ban the AfD have been advocated, including from 25 members of the Bundestag from the SPD.^[7] Among those calling for the AfD to be banned is Saskia Esken, co-leader of the SPD. These proposals have been pushed back upon by others, notably Habeck and Merz, who have expressed concerns about the potential risks such a move could pose if unsuccessful.^[23] Some of Habeck's comments, however, have been publicly interpreted as expressing support for a ban as protests escalated, saying that the AfD intended to replace German democracy with a system similar to Russia under Vladimir Putin. Others, such as constitutional scholar Horst Meier [de], have argued that a ban, while possible, would be ill-advised as a result of the AfD's popularity. The AfD would be only the third such party banned nationally, after the Socialist Reich Party and the Communist Party of Germany, both of which were banned during the 1950s, though its branches in the states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia have been declared as extremist. Minister of Interior Faeser has expressed support for a ban on the party, but only as a last resort.^[7]

Demonstrations with at least 25,000 participants

Date	Location	Participants
14 Jan	Berlin	25,000[24]
16 Jan	Cologne	up to 30,000[25]
19 Jan	Hamburg	180,000[17][26]
20 Jan	Frankfurt am Main	40,000[27][28][29]
	Hannover	35,000[28][29]
	Dortmund	30,000[28][29]
21 Jan	Munich	100,000–250,000[30]
	Berlin	over 100,000[31]
	Cologne	70,000[30]
	Leipzig	60,000–70,000[32][33]
	Bremen	40,000-45,000[34][35]
	Dresden	25,000–40,000[32]
	Freiburg im Breisgau	25,000[36]
27 Jan	Düsseldorf	100,000[37]
	Osnabrück	25,000[37]
28 Jan	Hamburg	60,000–100,000[38]
30 Jan	Bielefeld	25,000[39]
3 Feb	Berlin	150,000–300,000[20][19]
	Freiburg im Breisgau	over 30,000[40]
	Dresden	30,000[41]
	Augsburg	25,000[42]
	Nuremberg	25,000[19]
11 Feb	Munich	75,000–100,000[43]
16 Feb	Münster	30,000[44]
25 Feb	Hamburg	60,000[45]

List of protests

The following extendable table lists protests with at least 5,000 participants that occurred since 11 January 2024 following the report published by Correctiv. It also lists smaller protests that occurred on or before 19 January, on which day a protest in Hamburg attracted around 180,000 participants. The total number of protests from mid-January until April 2024 was counted by taz to be over 1,800, with around four million people attending in total.^[46]

Demonstrations up to 17 March 2024

Date	Location	Participants	Reported by
11 Jan	Berlin	several hundred	Die Zeit[47]
11 Jan	Darmstadt	over 500	Frankfurter Rundschau[48]
11 Jan	Potsdam	00060	Tagesspiegel[49]
12 Jan	Berlin	00350	Tagesspiegel[50]
12 Jan	Hamburg	02,000	Die Zeit,[12] Norddeutscher Rundfunk[51]
12 Jan	Mannheim	c.250	Südwestrundfunk[52]
13 Jan	Duisburg	ca. 2,400	Die Zeit,[12] Rheinische Post[53]
13 Jan	Düsseldorf	00650	Die Zeit,[12] Rheinische Post[53]
13 Jan	Landau	00250–500	Die Rheinpfalz[54]
14 Jan	Augsburg	00700	Bayerischer Rundfunk[55]
14 Jan	Berlin	25,000	Der Spiegel[24]
14 Jan	Dresden	02,000	Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten[56]
14 Jan	Kiel	07,000	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[57]
14 Jan	Potsdam	ca. 10,000	Der Spiegel[24]
14 Jan	Saarbrücken	05,000	Saarländischer Rundfunk[58]
14 Jan	Stendal	00100	Volksstimme[59]
15 Jan	Essen	06,700	Der Spiegel[60]
15 Jan	Leipzig	6,000–7,000	Der Spiegel[60]
15 Jan	Rostock	02,500	Der Spiegel[60]
15 Jan	Tübingen	01,500	Südwestrundfunk[61]
16 Jan	Cologne	up to 30,000	Kölner Stadtanzeiger[25]
16 Jan	Hannover	08,500	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[62]
16 Jan	Peine	00500	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[62]
16 Jan	Schwerin	01,600	Die Zeit[63]
16 Jan	Würzburg	02,000	Bayerischer Rundfunk[64]
17 Jan	Bergen auf Rügen	00300	Ostsee-Zeitung[65]
17 Jan	Berlin	03,500	Tagesschau[66]
17 Jan	Freiburg im Breisgau	06,000–10,000	Tagesschau[66]
17 Jan	Salzwedel	00120	Volksstimme[67]
18 Jan	Castrop-Rauxel	01,500	Ruhr Nachrichten[68]
18 Jan	Gera	00250	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[69]
18 Jan	Mainz	05,000	Südwestrundfunk[70]
19 Jan	Bielefeld	04,000	Radio Bielefeld[71]
19 Jan	Bochum	13,000	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Dahlenburg	00500	Campact[73]
19 Jan	Detmold	00400	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Erlangen	04,000	Bayerischer Rundfunk[74]
19 Jan	Gummersbach	00400	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Hamburg	180,000	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[17]
19 Jan	Iserlohn	00400	Iserlohner Kreisanzeiger und Zeitung[75]
19 Jan	Jena	03,300	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[76]
19 Jan	Jülich	00700	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Kiel	04,000	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[77]
19 Jan	Lüdenscheid	00500	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Minden	04,000	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Münster	20,000	Westfälischer Anzeiger[78]
19 Jan	Nettetal	01,000	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[72]
19 Jan	Rosenheim	over 500	Oberbayerisches Volksblatt[79]
19 Jan	Stralsund	1,200–2,000	Die Zeit[80]
19 Jan	Wuppertal	04,000	Wuppertaler Rundschau[81]
20 Jan	Aachen	10,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Bamberg	06,000	Bayerischer Rundfunk[82]
20 Jan	Braunschweig	15,000	Braunschweiger Zeitung[83]
20 Jan	Dortmund	30,000	Der Spiegel,[28] Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Erfurt	09,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Frankfurt am Main	40,000	Hessenschau,[27] Der Spiegel,[28] Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Freiburg im Breisgau	05,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Gießen	12,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Halle (Saale)	16,000	Die Zeit,[84] Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Hannover	35,000	Der Spiegel,[28] Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Heidelberg	18,000	Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung[85]
20 Jan	Karlsruhe	20,000	Die Zeit,[84] Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Kassel	12,000–15,000	Tagesschau,[29] Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine[86]
20 Jan	Koblenz	05,000	Der Spiegel,[28] Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Lingen	10,000	Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung[87]
20 Jan	Lüneburg	05,000	Der Spiegel[28]
20 Jan	Nürnberg	15,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Offenburg	05,000	Campact[88]
20 Jan	Oldenburg	05,000	Campact[88]
20 Jan	Recklinghausen	12,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Stuttgart	20,000	Der Spiegel[28]
20 Jan	Ulm	08,000–10,000	Tagesschau[29]
20 Jan	Wuppertal	10,000	Westdeutsche Zeitung[89]
21 Jan	Berlin	over 100,000	Die Zeit[31]
21 Jan	Bonn	30,000	Tagesschau[90]
21 Jan	Bremen	40,000–45,000	Die Zeit[34][35]
21 Jan	Chemnitz	12,000	Tagesschau[30]
21 Jan	Cologne	70,000	Tagesschau[30]
21 Jan	Cottbus	03,500–5,000	Tagesschau[30]
21 Jan	Dresden	25,000–40,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[32]
21 Jan	Flensburg	10,000	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[91]
21 Jan	Freiburg im Breisgau	25,000	Badische Zeitung[36]
21 Jan	Göttingen	12,000	RND[33]
21 Jan	Herrenberg	06,000	Kreiszeitung Böblinger Bote[92]
21 Jan	Kleve	05,000	Tagesschau[90]
21 Jan	Leipzig	60,000–70,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk,[32] RND[33]
21 Jan	Mülheim an der Ruhr	07,000	Tagesschau[90]
21 Jan	Munich	100,000–250,000	Tagesschau[30]
21 Jan	Regensburg	13,000	Bayerischer Rundfunk[93]
21 Jan	Saarbrücken	13,000	Tagesschau[30]
21 Jan	Stuttgart	08,000	Stuttgarter Zeitung[94]
22 Jan	Hamm	05,500	wa.de[95]
22 Jan	Paderborn	05,000	Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln[96]
23 Jan	Heilbronn	08,000–15,000	Tagesschau[97]
24 Jan	Konstanz	14,000–20,000	Südkurier[98]
24 Jan	Landshut	07,000	Passauer Neue Presse[99]
24 Jan	Oberhausen	05,000	Rheinische Post[100]
25 Jan	Hagen	05,000	Westfalenpost[101]
25 Jan	Mönchengladbach	05,000–7,000	Rheinische Post[102]
25 Jan	Rostock	06,500	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[103]
25 Jan	Siegen	05,000	Rheinische Post[104]
25 Jan	Wiesbaden	15,000	Hessenschau[105]
26 Jan	Dorsten	05,000	[106]
26 Jan	Fürth	06,000	Bayerischer Rundfunk[107]
26 Jan	Nordhorn	06,000	Ems Vechte Welle[108]
26 Jan	Reutlingen	05,000	Südwestrundfunk[109]
26 Jan	Saarbrücken	07,500	Südwestrundfunk[109]
27 Jan	Aachen	20,000	Tagesschau[110]
27 Jan	Bocholt	09,000	BBV,[111] Borkener Zeitung[112]
27 Jan	Borken	04,500–5,000	BBV,[111] Borkener Zeitung[112]
27 Jan	Dinslaken	05,000	BBV,[111] Borkener Zeitung[112]
27 Jan	Düren	05,000	[113]
27 Jan	Elmshorn	0up to 6,000	Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag[114]
27 Jan	Gelsenkirchen	06,500	[113]
27 Jan	Eschweiler	05,000	Aachener Zeitung[115]
27 Jan	Hildesheim	07,500	[113]
27 Jan	Hof (Saale)	06,000	[113]
27 Jan	Husum	05,000	Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag[114]
27 Jan	Ingolstadt	06,000	Die Zeit[116]
27 Jan	Kaiserslautern	06,000	Der Spiegel[37]
27 Jan	Kiel	11,500	Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag[114]
27 Jan	Lübeck	08,000	Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag[114]
27 Jan	Mannheim	20,000	Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung[117]
27 Jan	Marburg	16,000	Hessenschau[118]
27 Jan	Marl	06,000	[113]
27 Jan	Moers	08,000	[113]
27 Jan	Passau	06,000	Passauer Neue Presse[119]
27 Jan	Ravensburg	09,000	[113]
27 Jan	Regensburg	02,000–5,000	Mittelbayerische Zeitung[120]
27 Jan	Schwabach	05,000	Tagesschau[110]
27 Jan	Schweinfurt	06,500	Die Zeit[116]
27 Jan	Schwerte	05,000	Ruhr Nachrichten[121]
27 Jan	Solingen	05,000	Solinger Tageblatt[122]
28 Jan	Bremerhaven	07,000	buten un binnen[123]
28 Jan	Dormagen	05,000	[113]
28 Jan	Düsseldorf	10,000	Der Spiegel[37]
28 Jan	Esslingen	08,000	[113]
28 Jan	Hamburg	60,000–100,000	Die Zeit[38]
28 Jan	Ibbenbüren	07,000	Westfälische Nachrichten[124]
28 Jan	Ludwigsburg	07,000	[113]
28 Jan	Osnabrück	25,000	Der Spiegel[37]
28 Jan	Trier	10,000	Südwestrundfunk[125]
30 Jan	Bielefeld	25,000	taz[39]
30 Jan	Fulda	08,500–10,000	Fuldaer Zeitung[126]
30 Jan	Rheine	07,000	Münsterländische Volkszeitung[127]
3 Feb	Aalen	07,000	Schwäbische Zeitung[128]
3 Feb	Ahaus	06,000	Westfälische Nachrichten[129]
3 Feb	Augsburg	25,000	Bayerischer Rundfunk[42]
3 Feb	Berlin	150,000–300,000	The Guardian[20]
3 Feb	Dresden	30,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[41]
3 Feb	Freiburg im Breisgau	over 30,000	Badische Zeitung[40]
3 Feb	Nuremberg	25,000	Der Tagesspiegel[19]
4 Feb	Amberg	05,000	Der neue Tag[130]
4 Feb	Bremen	16,500	Weser-Kurier[131]
4 Feb	Emsdetten	05,000	Emsdettener Volkszeitung[132]
4 Feb	Lübeck	5,000–9,000	Norddeutscher Rundfunk[133]
4 Feb	Wesel	05,000	Neue Ruhr Zeitung[134]
5 Feb	Frankfurt am Main	019,000–25,000	Frankfurter Rundschau[135]
10 Feb	Hameln	over 5,000	Deister- und Weserzeitung[136]
10 Feb	Rostock	03,200–5,000	Tagesschau[137]
11 Feb	Dresden	05,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[138]
11 Feb	Munich	75,000–100,000	Der Spiegel[43]
13 Feb	Dresden	13,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[139]
16 Feb	Münster	30,000	Die Zeit[44]
17 Feb	Hanau	05,000	Die Zeit[140]
17 Feb	Magdeburg	03,000–6,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[141]
17 Feb	Recklinghausen	05,000	Recklinghäuser Zeitung[142]
18 Feb	Donauwörth	05,000	Augsburger Allgemeine[143]
18 Feb	Essen	15,000	RND[144]
18 Feb	Saarbrücken	07,000	Saarländischer Rundfunk[145]
18 Feb	Wolfsburg	07,000	Braunschweiger Zeitung[146]
24 Feb	Stuttgart	08,000	Die Zeit[147]
24 Feb	Willich	02,500–5,000	Rheinische Post[148]
25 Feb	Dresden	20,000	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk[149]
25 Feb	Hamburg	60,000	Deutsche Welle[45]
25 Feb	Lübeck	05,000	Lübecker Nachrichten[150]
25 Feb	Oldenburg	07,000	Nordwest-Zeitung[151]
25 Feb	Paderborn	05,000	Westfalen-Blatt,[152] Mindener Tageblatt[153]
2 Mar	Duisburg	15,000	Süddeutsche Zeitung[154]
3 Mar	Augsburg	06,500	Bayerischer Rundfunk[155]
3 Mar	Bochum/Herne	05,000	Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung[156]
3 Mar	Würzburg	10,000	Süddeutsche Zeitung[157]
17 Mar	Bremen	05,000	Weser-Kurier[131]

Analysis

By the last week of January 2024, the protests had become the biggest in Germany since the protests against the Iraq War in 2003.^[158] Soon after, according to some researchers, they had become the biggest in the history of post-war Germany.^[159]

In early February 2024, sociologist Dieter Rucht said that the speed with which the protests had erupted had generally not been foreseen.^[159]

In late January 2024, Tareq Sydiq, a researcher at the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg said that the protests refuted a common narrative of far-right groups, insofar as they did not originate solely from groups in the left spectrum in major cities. He further stated that the effects of even small protests in rural areas should not be underestimated, pointing to the stronger influence that personal acquaintances had as compared to following protests through media.^[160]

The protests in early 2024 saw a much lower participation from the CDU/CSU Christian democrats than from parties further to the left in the political spectrum.^[161]

Some observers assessed that it was unclear whether the first wave of protests had triggered changes beyond a somewhat greater awareness of politics and society of connections between the AfD and right-wing extremists. At the end of 2024, the AfD polled only slightly lower than before the protests.^[162]

Protests in 2025

A wave of anti-AfD protests in January and February 2025 was compared by observers to the protests of 2024.^[163] The new wave of protests, which came shortly before the federal election held on 23 February, was partly in response to a non-binding resolution to restrict immigration which the CDU/CSU had pushed through parliament with the help of the AfD on 29 January 2025.^[164][165] The name Brandmauer-Demos, incorporating a previously-used term for blocking the AfD from any influence on parliamentary decisions, was used by some media for the rallies of this wave.^[166] On the day before the election, Merz made defiant statements regarding the protests.^[167]

Demonstrations with at least 25,000 participants

Date	Location	Participants
1 Feb 2025	Hamburg	65,000–80,000[168]
1 Feb 2025	Stuttgart	44,000[169]
2 Feb 2025	Berlin	at least 160,000[170]
8 Feb 2025	Munich	250,000–320,000[163]
16 Feb 2025	Berlin	30,000–38,000[171]

The Bundestag resolution of 29 January was seen by observers as having created a tense mood that expressed itself not only through peaceful demonstrations, but also in widespread vandalism of CDU election placards, as well as occasional attacks on helpers. In Hamburg, police gave advice to CDU on how to maintain safety at election campaign stands, stopping short of advising them to be cancelled. The party decided to cancel some campaign stands anyway. Sociologist Simon Teune identified what he called a "cascade of protests and counterprotests" that saw each side picking what made it look favourable; he called the criticism by CDU/CSU members of the violence a means of distraction from the fact that "almost a million" had demonstrated against the circumstances of the Bundestag resolution. A large majority of people did not condone threats or physical violence. He further said that spray-painting of local CDU branches and occupations of local offices would affect other parties too and were within the common scope of protests.^[172]

Felix Anderl, a researcher at the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg, stated in an interview in early February that in addition to the wish of people for certain things not to change so close to elections, the strategy of CDU leader Friedrich Merz was adding urgency for the protesters.^[173]

After the federal election, the CDU filed a catalogue of 551 parliamentary questions regarding 17 civil society groups,^[166] to inquire about the amount of funding that these groups had received from the government, and whether there were indications of misuse of funds. Groups mentioned included Campact, Correctiv, Greenpeace, and Omas gegen Rechts. The filing was described in media as having been motivated by the rallies in response to the 29 January resolution. The CDU said that it had begun drafting it before the election.^[167] The filing met with sharp criticism from the addressed NGOs, and also prompted criticism from the social democrats, who were at the time preparing to enter talks with the CDU/CSU about a new grand coalition.^[174]

In the wake of the decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in early May 2025 that the AfD was a "confirmed right-wing extremist" party, which was challenged in court by the party and resulted in a "standstill commitment" on the side of the BfV until a ruling,^[175] a protest in Berlin on 11 May 2025 calling for a ban of the party attracted 4,000 protesters according to police, and 7,500 according to the organizers. Rallies were also scheduled in over 60 other German cites.^[176]

See also

• Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present)
• Alternative for Germany
• 2023 Potsdam far-right meeting
• Remigration, plan by members of the far right and Identitarian movements for the forced return of non-ethnically European immigrants to their respective countries of ethnic origin
• Madagascar Plan, plan for the mass deportation of the Jewish population proposed by the Nazi Party in the 1930s, compared with the Potsdam Plan
• 2024 French protests against the National Rally, similar protests against right-wing extremism in France
• 2022 German coup d'état plot, far-right monarchist plot which involved AfD party members