Berlin far-right supporters outnumbered by counter-protest

Publish date: 2024-05-19
Getty Images A protester waves the German flag during the right-wing AfD Alternative for Germany political party demonstration titled "Future Germany" on May 27, 2018 in Berlin, Germany.Getty ImagesAfD supporters waved German flags as they marched through the capital

Thousands of supporters and opponents of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have held rival demonstrations in the capital Berlin.

Police said about 5,000 people attended the AfD march on Sunday and about 20,000 opposed them.

Supporters of the anti-immigration AfD chanted "We are the people", and were met with chants of "Go away Nazis".

It was the party's largest gathering since it became Germany's largest opposition party earlier this year.

It took 13% of the vote in a general election.

Police had been deployed to prevent clashes. They say they used pepper spray to keep the two groups apart.

AFP AfD members at a demonstration in Berlin, 27 MayAFPAfD leader Alexander Gauland (L) was at the demonstration

AfD supporters gathered at Berlin's main train station shortly after midday, following a call to members to march through the city "for the future of Germany".

Images showed riot police making arrests following sporadic clashes at Friedrichstrasse station.

EPA A woman throws confetti during a protest against a demonstration of the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) party in Berlin, Germany, 27 May 2018.EPAThe AfD supporters were far outnumbered by the counter-demonstrators

In a newspaper interview ahead of the demonstrations on Sunday, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the general secretary of Germany's main governing party, the Christian Democrats, accused AfD of anti-Semitism.

She told Bild am Sonntag the party was a threat to Jewish life in Germany, adding: "There are anti-Semites in all corners of your party". The AfD denies the accusation.

AfD Berlin chief Georg Pazderski said ahead of the march that many of the party's supporters feared being "stigmatised" despite the party's electoral success.

EPA Police arrest a man on a platform of Friedrichstrasse station after a demonstration of the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) party at the main station in Berlin, Germany, 27 May 2018.EPAPolice arrested a man on a platform of Friedrichstrasse stationBBC in other languagesInnovation

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