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Protesters from across Germany marched in Berlin against racism, xenophobia and the extreme right at one of the country's biggest gatherings in recent years.
The organizers estimate the participation rate at 242,000 people. The Saturday demonstration followed anti-immigration protests in several eastern cities during the summer and increased support for the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD ) before the election of a state in Bavaria on Sunday.
A spokesman for the police refused to estimate the magnitude of the crowd at the rally organized by a broad alliance of associations, unions, parties and rights groups, among which Amnesty International.
Walkers carried signs saying "build bridges, not walls", "united against racism" and "we are indivisible – for an open and free society". Some danced to make music on a hot autumn day.
The arrival of more than one million migrants, many of them from Middle East war zones, has reinforced support for the AfD. The elections in Bavaria, long a bastion of the conservative Christian Christian Union, a member of the federal coalition government of Angela Merkel, should give him good results.
Far-right groups in the eastern city of Chemnitz clashed with police and in August sued people who they suspected were alienated after stabbing an imputed German man deadly. to two migrants. Similar demonstrations took place in Dresden, Köthen and in other Eastern cities.
Merkel accused AfD politicians of using violent protests to stir up social tensions, although the number of violent attacks against refugees and reception centers for plaintiffs asylum in Germany fell sharply in the first half of this year.
Two companies also warned their employees against the dangers of populism before the regional elections in Bavaria. The president of the BDI association said that the economy could be affected by a wave of nationalism.
