Protests erupt across Germany over tough new migration rules

BERLIN/ISTANBUL

Protests were held across Germany on Sunday over a proposed nonbinding motion in parliament calling for the country to turn back more migrants at its borders that was approved by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties and backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Around 200,000 people gathered in the capital Berlin, while 15,000 protested in the city of Saarbrucken and 14,000 in Kiel against the CDU/CSU.

The protesters in Berlin gathered at Brandenburg Gate and marched to the CDU’s headquarters to express their opposition to the party’s collaboration with the AfD.

Carrying banners and placards, participants in the demonstration, which was organized under the slogan "The Uprising of Good People - We Are the Security Wall," expressed their disapproval.

Some placards urged people not to vote for the CDU/CSU’s candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, with messages such as "No to Merz in February," "Better without Merz than heartless" and "Stop Merz."

Some of the banners referenced the National Socialist era with the slogan "5 to 1933" written on them, likely referring to the period of Nazi Party growth and consolidation of power in Germany leading up to Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor in 1933.

At the CDU party headquarters, demonstrators waved their cell phone lights and jeered at chancellor candidate Merz.

Michel Friedman, who resigned from the CDU due to its collaboration with the AfD, criticized the party's stance during his speech at the protest.

He referred to the AfD as "the party of hate, a party that does not stand on the ground of democracy."

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the former president of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), also spoke, saying that a vote like the one the CDU/CSU and AfD made should never happen again.

He stressed that one should never join forces with those who trample on human dignity.

The proposal to tighten migration laws, submitted by the CDU/CSU in parliament on Jan. 29, was passed with the support of the AfD.

Holocaust survivor Albrecht Weinberg and photographer Luigi Toscano each decided to return their Federal Cross of Merit in protest against the CDU/CSU's stance.