Tens of thousands march across Germany to protest far-right party AfD

Protesters in about 20 cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, demand the banning of the Alternative for Germany.

People gather in a pro-democracy and anti-far-right demonstration in front of the Rotes Rathaus city hall in Berlin, Germany, on September 12, 2026 [Omer Messinger/Getty]

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Germany to protest against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) after the far-right party won a state election by a landslide.

About 150,000 demonstrators turned out in roughly 20 cities on Saturday, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, in rallies organised by Pruef, a campaign group pushing for a ban on the AfD.

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Protesters carried signs reading “Ban the AfD now” and “Democracy needs no alternatives.”

“A broad cross-section of civil society is taking to the streets to prevent the enemies of the constitution … from gaining government power,” said Christoph Bautz, head of Campact, another campaign group involved in the protests, which put turnouts at about 25,000 in Hamburg and 12,000 in Munich.

According to police, several thousand more joined separate demonstrations in Berlin.

The AfD held its own counter-rally in the German capital, attended by Kristin Brinker, the party’s lead candidate for Berlin’s upcoming regional election.

The protests follow a stunning result for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, a state in eastern Germany, where the party took nearly 44 percent of the vote on September 6 — far ahead of the roughly 17 percent won by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which has long dominated German politics.

The AfD, known for its anti-immigration stance and friendly posture towards Russia , fell just short of an outright majority and is now in talks with other parties to try to form a government, which would make it the first far-right party to lead a German state since the Nazi era ended in 1945.

AfD state leader Ulrich Siegmund called the result historic, telling supporters: “The people have made it absolutely clear that they finally want political change and, above all, they have shown that they want it with us.” He has since signalled openness to working with other parties, after previously saying he wanted to govern alone.

The AfD’s growing strength has deeply unsettled many Germans, given the country’s history and its commitment to never repeating it.

The party is projected to win 39 of 83 seats in the state parliament, three short of a majority. It now needs a coalition partner, though all mainstream parties have so far refused to govern with the AfD under a longstanding policy known as the “firewall.” The far-right party has never joined a governing coalition anywhere in Germany, at either state or national level.

The unease has fuelled growing calls to ban the AfD altogether, though that would be legally difficult in Germany, and Chancellor Merz has been reluctant to pursue it.

包括柏林、汉堡和慕尼黑在内的约 20 个城市的抗议者要求取缔德国另类选择党。

2026年9月12日，人们聚集在德国柏林的红色市政厅前，举行支持民主和反对极右翼的示威活动。[Omer Messinger/Getty]

在极右翼政党德国另类选择党（AfD）以压倒性优势赢得州选举后，德国各地数万人走上街头抗议该党。

周六，约有 15 万名示威者在包括柏林、汉堡和慕尼黑在内的大约 20 个城市参加了由 Pruef 组织的集会，该组织致力于推动取缔德国选择党。

名单1（共3份）德国另类选择党（AfD）正在崛起，但仍有可能被阻止。

问题 2（共 3 题）：德国选择党 (AfD) 的选举崛起对德国和欧洲有何影响？

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抗议者举着写有“立即取缔德国选择党”和“民主不需要其他选择”的标语。

“公民社会各界人士纷纷走上街头，阻止宪法的敌人……获得政府权力，”参与抗议活动的另一个运动组织 Campact 的负责人克里斯托夫·鲍茨说道。据统计，汉堡的抗议人数约为 25,000 人，慕尼黑的抗议人数约为 12,000 人。

据警方称，另有数千人参加了柏林各地举行的示威活动。

德国选择党在德国首都举行了自己的反集会，该党在即将到来的柏林地区选举中的首席候选人克里斯汀·布林克也出席了集会。

在德国东部萨克森-安哈尔特州，德国选择党（AfD）取得了惊人的胜利，9 月 6 日该党获得了近 44% 的选票，远远超过了长期主导德国政坛的总理弗里德里希·默茨领导的基督教民主联盟（CDU）约 17% 的得票率。

以反移民立场和对俄罗斯友好姿态而闻名的德国选择党（AfD）未能获得绝对多数席位，目前正在与其他政党进行谈判，试图组建政府。这将使德国选择党成为自 1945 年纳粹时代结束以来第一个领导德国州的极右翼政党。

德国选择党（AfD）州主席乌尔里希·西格蒙德称此次选举结果具有历史意义，并告诉支持者：“人民已经非常明确地表明，他们最终想要政治变革，而且最重要的是，他们表明他们希望与我们一起实现变革。”此前他曾表示希望单独执政，但此后他表示愿意与其他政党合作。

鉴于德国的历史以及德国决心不再重蹈覆辙，德国选择党的日益壮大令许多德国人深感不安。

该党预计将在州议会83个席位中赢得39席，距离多数席位还差3席。它现在需要一个联合执政伙伴，但所有主流政党迄今为止都拒绝与德国选择党（AfD）联合执政，这源于一项被称为“防火墙”的长期政策。这个极右翼政党从未在德国任何地方加入过执政联盟，无论是州级还是国家级。

这种不安情绪助长了越来越多的人呼吁彻底取缔德国选择党，尽管这在德国法律上很难做到，而且默茨总理也一直不愿采取这一行动。