Tens of thousands of Germans rallied Saturday against the far right ahead of next month’s legislative elections, as US tech billionaire Elon Musk again endorsed the anti-immigrant AfD party.
Musk, speaking by video link, told thousands of AfD supporters gathered in the eastern city of Halle that their party was “the best hope for the future of Germany”.
AfD supporters at the rally shouted their approval as party co-leader Alice Weidel looked on smiling.
Meanwhile, protesters against the AfD turned out in cities across Germany.
The largest gatherings took place in Berlin and Cologne, police revising their turnout figures upwards to 35,000 and 40,000 respectively. Organisers in Berlin claimed that 100,000 people attended the protests in the capital.
Musk, a close associate of US President Donald Trump, told the AfD rally: "I think this election coming up in Germany is incredibly important.
“I think it could decide the entire fate of Europe, maybe the fate of the world.”
Musk has rattled European politicians in recent weeks with comments on his social platform X supporting AfD and far-right politicians in other countries, including Britain
The anti-AfD rallies took place in some 60 towns following calls from a variety of organisations, attracting more people than the police had initially expected.
The protests passed off peacefully, with banners saying “Nazis out” or “AfD is not an alternative”, a reference to the far-right party’s full name “Alternative for Germany”.
The CDU’s Merz also came in for criticism. Many protestors fear he is tempted to break his party’s policy of refusing to enter into coalition talks with the AfD.
There was also a protest in the southern city of Aschaffenbourg, where a deadly knife attack this week by an Afghan migrant further inflamed the debate over immigration.
Several thousand also turned out in the eastern city of Halle, where the AfD rally was addressed by Musk, leading to a few incidents.
Halle police said they had opened criminal investigations for offences including assault, insults and disrupting traffic. They said they would also be taking action against 21 people who tried to force a barrier.
Musk told the AfD rally that “the German people are really an ancient nation which goes back thousands of years”.
“I even read Julius Caesar was very impressed by the German tribes,” he said, urging the supporters to “fight, fight, fight” for their country’s future.
Weidel told her rally that migrants in Germany had to be sent home.
“We need re-migration to live safely in Germany,” she said. .
God, the old and tired line of “thousands of years of German History”.
No you fuckwad, the notion of anything like a common german culture isnt older than the Reformation and even this is a dubious starting point.
Germany isnt an ancient nation. Its less than 200 years old. But what do i expect of a white supremacist.
How dare you? We have a rich and colorful ancient history of dozens of years. Dozens I say!
That was really dumb, even for this egocentric man-child-attention-whore.
that picture is amazing. that cant have been by accident x3
Lmfao, at first I thought it was edited
I never thought I would feel envious nor embarrassed by Germany’s far better popular response to fascism.
But we live in interesting times
Too little too late. It’s all too late.
We accused russia of interfering with US elections, and it had been Elon Musk this whole time. Now Elon Musk is trying to interfere in German elections.
Musk has been in regular contact with Putin over the past couple of years. Its fair to say he serves as a “useful idiot” for Putin, much like Trump.
It can be both. Like G. Shröder didn’t join the board of directors of russian oil and gas companies for nofhing, and I believe AfD had been paid in roubles a lot to stay relevant. Yet, no one who wanted to bring hell on US, Germany or any ofher country could’ve predicted that there would be a factor like Elon speedrunning the downfall on some cocaine speeds.
Oh, definitely. And then there’s the ever-present continuous attempt to influence national elections by each country over the other.
The united autocratic masses are at Europe’s doorstep.
