Berlin Protest Erupts
Thousands of protesters rallied at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Monday, after the AfD won a historic 43.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt.
Footage shows demonstrators filling the square, waving Die Linke and SPD flags alongside Antifa banners. Placards read ‘Fight fascism. Don’t copy it’ and ‘History has its eyes on us’, while police monitor the rally as activists Luisa Neubauer and Faravaz Farvardin address and perform in front of the crowd.
Merz Admits Election Shock
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed he was ‘shocked’ by the scale of the defeat for his party in the local election and vowed consequences. He admitted that the leadership “did not expect it to turn out like this” and added that the landslide defeat had shaken the CDU ‘to its very foundations’.
He had previously vowed that under his rule, a ‘firewall’ (German: Brandmauer) against AfD will be maintained, ruling out collaborations with the party.
AfD Secures Historic Result
AfD won nearly 44 percent of the vote and 39 of 83 seats in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election, the highest result the party has ever achieved; just three seats short of an overall majority. Party leader in the state, Ulrich Siegmund, said the party had a ‘clear mandate to govern’. Outgoing premier Sven Schulze from Merz’s own CDU admitted he ‘no longer has a mandate to govern’ while declaring the party will remain in opposition with a historic low vote of 17.2 percent.
The conservative AfD party – which other parties have conventionally refused to work with – is also in the lead nationally.
Article by Viory
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