Several thousand people demonstrated this Saturday in the center of Berlin at the call of the far-right AfD party against the energy policy of the government of Olaf Scholz and inflation, AFP journalists said.
Under the slogan “Energy security and protection against inflation: our country first”, around 8,000 protesters, according to police, marched near the Bundestag and the Brandenburg Gate in the center of the capital.
The far-right party thus intends to surf on the growing unpopularity of Olaf Scholz’s government, given the rise in energy prices and the threat of shortages with the end of the supply of Russian gas and oil.
“I want Russian oil and gas”
An imposing police force framed the procession, which was marching near several counter-demonstrations that brought together some 1,400 anti-racist activists, according to police.
The demonstrators, some of whom waved German, Russian or black, white and red flags, a symbol of the German extreme right, chanted “We are the people” or “Habeck must go”, in reference to the ecologist Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck , in charge of energy issues.
Demonstrators carried signs saying “No to Arms and War” to protest Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, or “I want Russian oil and gas.”
The extreme right rises in the polls
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has risen in the polls in recent weeks, to around 15%, after suffering from internal divisions and opposition to anti-Covid measures between 2020 and mid-2022.
The far-right movement, particularly active in the regions of the former GDR, is also making itself heard, notably with demonstrations every Monday night in various cities of the country. In this way, it tries to reproduce the success of the marches organized from 2014 by the Islamophobic Pegida movement.
Source: BFM TV
