64% of Germans are “concerned” about the clear victory achieved by the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the regional elections on Sunday in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to a survey published this Monday.
24% said they feel “happy” about the election result and 45% believe that the AfD candidate, Ulrich Sigmund, should be elected Minister-President of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to the study conducted by Ifratest Dimap for the German public television ARD. In addition, 51% believe that the other parties should take AfD more into account in their policies.
On Sunday, after exit polls showed a clear victory for AfD, although without an absolute majority, thousands of people took to the streets in several German cities to protest against the far-right party, a prelude to the demonstration held this Monday at the Brandenburg Gate, where about 5,000 people, according to the police, 14,000 according to the organizers, gathered in rejection of the far-right formation.
The demonstration took place without incidents and with the participation of personalities such as climate activist Luisa Neubauer and politicians from parties like The Left or The Greens, including the candidates of these formations for the Berlin state elections scheduled for September 20.
Banners with slogans such as “Fascism is not an alternative” or “Stop the AfD Nazis! Out with racism and social cuts” were displayed at the protest. Chants such as “All together against fascism!” were also heard.
Protests against AfD were also held in other parts of Germany such as Essen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, or Potsdam.
There are also elections on September 20 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, whose Minister-President, Manuela Schwesig, of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), has called to “jointly stop AfD’s power fantasies.” “Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is not Saxony-Anhalt (…). AfD will not take over our house,” she said.
Meanwhile, The Left party has demanded a radical shift in the social cut policies of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “If the CDU does not stop the social dismantling, it will be the gravedigger of democracy,” said the party’s spokesperson in the federal parliament, Soeren Pellmann. “Never before has so much money been spent on armaments. Never before has so little been spent on our ecological and social future,” he added.
