Thousands in Germany protest far right; Musk at AfD rally laments ‘focus on past guilt’
Demonstrators in Berlin and other cities contend country must unite against rising nationalist party
BERLIN — Thousands of Germans protested in Berlin and other cities on Saturday against the rise of the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of a February 23 general election.
At Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, participants lighted up their phones, blew whistles and sang anti-fascist songs, and in Cologne, protesters carried banners denouncing AfD.
An opposition bloc of Germany’s center-right parties, the Union, led by Friedrich Merz, is leading pre-election polls, with AfD in second place.
Merz said Friday that his party will bring motions to toughen migration policy — one of the main election issues — to parliament next week, a move seen as risky in case the motions go to a vote and pass with the help of AfD.
Merz had earlier vowed to bar people from entering the country without proper papers and to step up deportations if he is elected chancellor. Those comments came after a knife attack in Aschaffenburg by a rejected asylum-seeker left a man and a 2-year-old boy dead and spilled over into the election campaign.
Activists including the group calling itself Fridays for Future dubbed the Berlin rally the “sea of light against the right turn.” They hope it will draw attention to the actions by the new administration of US President Donald Trump and to the political lineup ahead of Germany’s election.
A protester in Cologne, Thomas Schneemann, said it was most important for him to ”stay united against the far right.”
“Especially after yesterday and what we heard from Friedrich Merz we have to stand together to fight the far right,” Schneemann said.
The protests took place while AfD was opening its election campaign in the central city of Halle on Saturday. Party leaders Alice Weidel, AfD’s candidate for chancellor, and Tino Chrupalla were to speak to an audience of some 4,500 people.
Weidel again received the backing of Elon Musk, who addressed the rally remotely, but she has no realistic chance of becoming Germany’s leader as other parties refuse to work with AfD.
????Nach der Unterstützung auf X und dem Space mit Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) lässt sich Elon Musk (@elonmusk) auch zum Wahlkampfauftakt der AfD in Halle zuschalten. »Ich glaube, dass es sehr wichtig ist, dass die Menschen stolz darauf sind, Deutsche zu sein. Das ist sehr… pic.twitter.com/hOvisPGDw9
— Jan A. Karon (@jannibal_) January 25, 2025
Addressing the AfD rally Musk said he believed “there is too much focus on past guilt [in Germany], and we need to move beyond that.”
“Children should not feel guilty for the sins of their parents — their great-grandparents even,” Musk added, referring to World War II and the Holocaust.
Musk’s comments come days after he was accused of making a Nazi salute at an event celebrating Trump’s inauguration.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a message of support for Musk, saying he was “being falsely smeared.”
“Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre… [and] has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state.”
Shortly afterward, Musk posted a series of Nazi jokes on X.
Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations!
Some people will Goebbels anything down!
Stop Gőring your enemies!
His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler!
Bet you did nazi that coming ????
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2025
