About 3,000 people have taken to the streets, calling on Germany’s government to take action against growing right-wing radicalism. Protesters carried signs slamming the far-right AfD’s normalization of racist rhetoric.
Thousands of people in the city of Hanau marched against right-wing groups and racism on Saturday in the wake of the double shooting that killed 11 people, including the suspect.
Police reported that about 3,000 people took part in the protests in the central German city, 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) east of Frankfurt.
Protesters first gathered in Freiheitsplatz – which translates as Freedom Square – in the city center to remember the victims of Wednesday’s terror attack. They then walked throughout the city behind a banner that read, “United against racism and fascism,” to the two places where the nine victims were shot.
Protesters held banners and placards with messages criticizing Germany’s far-right AfD party for its xenophobic rhetoric. Placards included messages reading “Must people first have to be killed for you to be outraged?”, “Human rights instead of right-wing people” and “Strengthen anti-fascist action.” Some protesters carried pictures of the victims.
DW’s Kate Brady said the protests had a palpable anti-AfD element, with people protesting not just against xenophobia, but against the far-right party and its rhetoric. The demographic of the crowds reflected Hanau itself, with a diverse mix of ages and backgrounds, according to Brady.
Greens politician Cem Özdemir, who is of Turkish origin, presented a wreath for the victims of the attack. “It’s hard to find words,” he said.
Speaking in the Hanau neighborhood of Heumarkt, where the attacker shot some of the victims, he said he hoped “this year will go down in history as the year in which the republic takes right-wing radicalism seriously.”
Leader of the Greens Robert Habeck also spoke out in favor of having the AfD monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic security agency. Habeck told German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse that the AfD “Fuels racism and encourages right-wing extremism.”
