Anti-AfD protests in Germany: 150 thousand people took to the streets

Following the remarkable success of the far-right AfD in Germany in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections, protests began across the country.

It was reported that nearly 150 thousand people participated in the demonstrations held in approximately 20 cities on Saturday.

The demonstrations were called by the organization called Pruef, which campaigns to ban the AfD.

Activists carried banners saying "Ban AfD now" and "Democracy does not need an alternative."

Christoph Bautz, director of the Campact group, which supports the protests, said that large segments of society took to the streets to prevent the AfD from gaining power.

According to organizers, approximately 25 thousand people attended the demonstrations in Hamburg and 12 thousand people in Munich. Thousands of people came together in separate protests in Berlin.

AfD also organized a counter-demonstration in Berlin attended by its own supporters.

Kristin Brinker, one of the party's leading candidates in the upcoming Berlin state elections, also attended the demonstration.

The protests were sparked by AfD's election result in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6.

AfD became the clear first party, receiving approximately 44 percent of the votes. The vote rate of Prime Minister Friedrich Merz's party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), remained at approximately 17 percent.

The AfD won 39 seats in the 83-seat state parliament, three fewer than the number of seats needed for a single majority.

AfD does not have enough seats to form a government on its own. The party therefore needs a coalition partner.

However, mainstream political parties in Germany refuse to form a coalition with the AfD under the long-established policy called "firewall".

If the AfD leads a state government, it would be the first time the far-right has led a state government in Germany since the Nazi era ended in 1945.

AfD's rise in the elections has renewed calls for a complete ban on the party.

However, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz remains distant from this option.