Several thousand people joined rallies organized by the new protest alliance Together for Germany in cities throughout the nation on Saturday, with some facing counter-demonstrations, some scuffles with police and some people taken into custody.
The new alliance is in favour of nationwide border controls and an end to financial and military support for Ukraine.
It faced counter-demonstrations in many cities on Saturday.
Extremists could try to steer the rally in line with their own demands, Germany’s domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned ahead of Saturday’s planned actions.
Police said some 1,100 people gathered in Weimar, in Thuringia. Right-wing speakers included a far-right extremist known regionally.
Some 850 people turned out in response to a call for counter-demonstrations, by the Weimar Citizens’ Alliance Against the Right. There were also sit-ins set up by a spontaneously organized rally.
In Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, police said that officers were attacked by a group of partially masked demonstrators from the left-wing spectrum. There were “violent attacks on colleagues,” a police spokesman said.
The officers responded by using batons and pepper spray. One person collapsed among the demonstrators in a problem attributed to health problems.
The police said the group of around 200 people was a counter-demonstration on the way to a gathering under the slogan Together for Germany, attended by some 500 people. A further 400 counter-demonstrators had also gathered.
Some 200 people also attended a Together for Germany demonstration in Karlsruhe. Six groups organized counter-demos, attended by some 1,200 people.
In Dortmund, up to 800 people gathered at a demonstration organised by the right-wing group, police said, while they estimated the number of counter-demonstrators at 300 to 500.
A group of counter-demonstrators left the route that was officially planned and tried to break through police barriers in order to get through to the Together for Germany demonstration, a spokesman said. Several hundred counter-demonstrators were then temporarily surrounded.
According to police reports in the evening, around 600 people took part in the alliance’s closing rally, including around 50 right-wing extremists. In two cases, the Hitler salute was displayed, resulting in criminal proceedings being initiated.
Following a demonstration in Koblenz in western Germany, a total of more than 50 people were expelled from the city and 17 were taken into custody.
According to police, more than 40 criminal proceedings were initiated, mainly for violations of the Assembly Act. According to police, around 800 people took part in the Koblenz Together Against Fascism rally. Police said that around 450 people took part in the Together for Germany event.
An information stand run by the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) was damaged by around 30 to 40 people. “One person was slightly injured during the turbulent clashes,” police said. Some masked individuals had set up a blockade – three police officers were slightly injured when it was broken up.
In Nuremberg in Bavaria, counter-demonstrators also tried to prevent a gathering of Together for Germany by forming multiple blockades in the city centre, police said.
Here, too, there were physical attacks on officers. “Police officers had to repeatedly use direct force, including batons and pepper spray,” the police said. Eight officers were injured.
After the rallies ended, clashes broke out between supporters of the various political camps. Twenty-three suspects were apprehended by the police. Investigations are under way for dangerous bodily harm and insulting behaviour.
Police said that in the northern port city of Hamburg, up to 240 people gathered for a Together for Germany demonstration. The person who registered the demonstration is a member of the AfD, according to the authorities. A counter-demonstration consisted of 750 people. The police reported that they filed several complaints.
In Berlin, the police reported around 500 counter-demonstrators. Some 300 mainly right wingers joined the demonstration organized by the right-wing alliance.
Police officers try to force the participants of a left-wing demonstration off the street in front of the right-wing demonstration “Together for Germany”. Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa
People wave flags in front of the Goethe-Schiller monument in Weimar during the demonstration “Together for Germany” in Weimar. Heiko Rebsch/dpa
Counter-demonstrators protest against the demonstration “Together for Germany” in Weimar. Heiko Rebsch/dpa
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