Street protests have been held in cities big and small following a report published on January 10 by investigative journalist group Correctiv.
The report revealed details of a meeting in November between radical right-wingers and individual politicians from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in which plans for the expulsion of millions of people with immigrant backgrounds were discussed.
On Saturday afternoon in Berlin, strangers locked hands outside the historic Reichstag parliament building to form a human chain. Police said more than 150,000 participated, although others said as many as 300,000 people were there.
About 30,000 people rallied on Saturday in both the eastern city of Dresden and Freiburg in the Black Forest. Another 25,000 came out in Bavaria’s Augsburg. Thousands more protested at other rallies.
A majority of German citizens say they welcome the protests against the far-right.
Some 55% favoured the demonstrations in a survey conducted by the INSA opinion research institute for the Sunday edition of the Bild newspaper. In contrast, 26% were opposed and 12% were indifferent.
In the survey, participants were also asked whether democracy in Germany was in danger.
Some 61% of respondents thought so, while a third of respondents did not consider German democracy to be in danger.
