Some 35,000 people in the eastern German city of Dresden on Saturday joined a rally in support of an inclusive society and against xenophobia and racism on Saturday.
The demonstration is organised by the group Unteilbar (Indivisible), which staged a similar protest in the capital, Berlin, last year, drawing 250,000 people.
”Tens of thousands of people from Dresden … as well as from many parts of Germany have shown their unmistakable support for solidarity instead of exclusion,” said Ana-Cara Methmann, a spokeswoman for the organisers.
Among the attendees were Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and the leaders of the far-left Die Linke party, Bernd Riexinger and Katja Kipping.
“Racism and discrimination have no place in our society, and neither do cuts to social services or the restriction of fundamental rights,” organiser Ario Mirzaie said.
The Unteilbar demonstration was taking place one week before state elections in Saxony and Brandenburg, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to make significant gains.
The AfD is campaigning on an anti-immigration platform.
“Unteilbar … stands against any form of group-based misanthropy and anti-feminism, against limiting basic free rights, against social decline and poverty – for a society in which all people can live free from fear,” the organizers said a day before the rally.
Countless politicians have spoken out in favour of the group to draw attention to the threat of right-wing gains in next week’s state elections.