BERLIN, Feb 3, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Demonstrators descended on Berlin Sunday to
protest last week's decision by Germany's conservatives to make overtures to
the far right ahead of this month's legislative election, drawing at least
160,000 people, according to police.

Organisers said 200,000 people had turned out to denounce the breach by the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany's unwritten agreement not to work
with the far right at the national level, in place since World War II.

After the rally started just outside the Bundestag, Germany's parliament
building, some protesters chanted slogans including "Shame on you CDU" before
moving on towards the party's headquarters.

Others accused the CDU, currently the main opposition party, and its leader,
Friedrich Merz, of having made a "pact with the devil" by seeking the backing
of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass an anti-immigration
bill.

"(We want to) make as much noise as possible to call for the self-described
'democratic' parties to protect this democracy," protester Anna Schwarz, 34,
told AFP.

She was joining a political rally for the first time as "we can no longer
avert our gaze, it's too serious", she added.

The CDU's canvassing for the far-right AfD's support in parliament last week
sparked widespread fury in Germany, less than a month ahead of a snap federal
election.

In doing so Merz, frontrunner ahead of the February 23 vote, broke the
decades-old "firewall" set up in the aftermath of the horrors wrought by Nazi
Germany.

- 'Terrifying' -

The two parties passed a non-binding resolution on Wednesday in a bid to
block undocumented foreigners at the border, including asylum seekers.

They failed on Friday to pass a contentious bill to further restrict
immigration, but the taboo on working together had been broken.

"Friday I was very nervous, I spend the day watching the debates in the
Bundestag with friends," said protester Oez, 33, who did not give her full
name.

"To see, live, the CDU speaking then the AfD clapping and vice versa, it's
terrifying."

But she said she was reassured by the rally's turnout. "Today, we need to
show that there are more of us defending democracy than there are of them."

Already on Saturday, more than 220,000 people had marched in cities across
the country, including Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne and Stuttgart, according to
figures compiled by public broadcaster ARD.

- 'How can we trust him?' -

Centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz on X said that hundreds of thousands had
turned out to send a message: "Never with the far right."

He has warned that the conservatives and the far right could soon join forces
to govern the country, as has been the case elsewhere in Europe -- including
neighbouring Austria.

Even if Merz has rejected governing with the AfD, "he already betrayed his
word last week," protester Matina Beibel told AFP. "So how can we trust him?"

Even Merz's predecessor at the head of the CDU, former chancellor Angela
Merkel, branded leaning on the AfD a "mistake" in a rare rebuke from the
veteran politician.

Merz has strongly criticised the AfD and vowed never to govern with it.

But he has promised an about-turn on immigration from the open-door policy of
his more centrist predecessor and party rival Merkel.

That came after police arrested an Afghan man following a deadly knife attack
a week ago against a group of kindergarten children.

It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that have darkened the mood
in Germany over the arrival of millions of war refugees and other asylum
seekers in recent years.

Merz, whose party is polling at 30 percent, is banking on going "all in" on
immigration to peel away voters tempted by the AfD's strident anti-migrant
policies.

Critics argue this is a high-risk gamble that will only pander to the extreme
forces in German politics, in a country still seeking to atone for the Nazi
regime and the Holocaust.

The AfD is polling behind the CDU in second place with between 20 and 22
percent of the vote.