Far-right rally in Berlin heightens political temperature

BERLIN: Police enforced strict security Monday for rally in Berlin by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of an election in the capital in September.

Police said about 450 people attended the rally in front of Berlin City Hall for the AfD, that polls indicate could make a new breakthrough in the city vote.

About 200 people waving German and LGBTQ flags took part in a counter-demonstration nearby, with police separating the two groups.

“You can clearly see how Berlin is becoming increasingly dysfunctional, dirty, and unreliable,” AfD candidate for mayor Kristin Brinker told the crowd.

The counter demonstrators meanwhile chanted “Everyone in Berlin hates the AfD”.

Berlin has since 2023 been run by Kai Wegner, a conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) in coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) who had previously controlled the city for 20 years.

But opinion polls indicate that the far-right party could double its 2023 score to about 18% of the vote in September just behind the CDU. In some parts of eastern Germany the party has scored more than 35% of the vote.

An accord with another party seems impossible and a coalition of the Greens, SPD and the far-left Die Linke seems favourite to take over.

Brinker, whose party wants to stop refugees and welfare earners from priority spots for social housing, slammed what she called the “extreme left terrorism” that “endangers the lives of Berliners”.