Tens of thousands protest in Berlin

3/2/2025 5:56

Thousands of people protested

in Berlin on Sunday against plans to limit immigration proposed

by opposition conservatives and supported by the far-right

Alternative for Germany (AfD).



Friedrich Merz, the conservatives' leader who is tipped to

become Germany's next chancellor after a national election set

for Feb. 23, sponsored a draft bill with AfD support, breaking a

taboo against cooperating with the far-right party.



Around 160,000 gathered at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, next

to the Bundestag lower house, according to the Berlin police.

The protesters held banners reading "We are the firewall, no

cooperation with the AfD" and "Merz, go home, shame on you!".



Merz, the CDU/CSU's candidate for chancellor, on Friday

tried to push the immigration bill in the lower house but failed

to secure a majority as some of the deputies from his own party

refused to support it.



Their failure to endorse his draft dealt a blow to the

authority of Merz, who had pushed for the law despite warnings

from party colleagues that he risked being tarnished with the

charge of voting alongside the far-right.



Mainstream German parties had previously joined forces to

prevent the AfD, which is under surveillance by Germany's

security services, from achieving legislative power, something

they call a firewall against the far-right.



The draft law would have restricted family reunifications

for some refugees and called for more people to be refused at

the border. Two-thirds of the public support stronger

immigration rules, according to a recent poll.



Merz had argued that the bill was a necessary response to a

series of high-profile killings in public spaces by people with

an immigrant background. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social

Democrats (SPD) and Greens said the proposals would not have

stopped the attacks and violated European law.



On Saturday, tens of thousands took to the streets across

many other German cities, including Hamburg, Stuttgart and

Leipzig, in similar protests against the CDU/CSU and the AfD.