Protests against Weidel: Hamburg gets up to defend diversity!

Protests against Weidel: Hamburg gets up to defend diversity!

Hamburg, Deutschland - On January 16, 2025, Alice Weidel, the head of the AfD, is expected in the Hamburg town hall to give a lecture there. Weidel's appearance has mobilized a broad alliance of left -wing groups and civil society associations that wants to protest against this event. The police are expecting more than 2,000 demonstrators and has already sealed off the town hall market with Hamburg bars. Water cannons are also on standby.

already around 350 people have joined a march from Valentinskamp towards the main train station. The main demonstration, organized by the Hamburg alliance against right, begins at 5 p.m. on Kirchenallee and will move from there to Mönckebergstrasse and further to the town hall. The final rally is planned for 6.10 p.m. Hundreds of police officers from Hamburg and other federal states are on duty to ensure security during the protests.

reactions to Weidel's appearance

The Mayor of Hamburg Peter Tschentscher (SPD) critically commented on Weidel's visit and emphasized the diversity and openness of Hamburg. He receives support from traffic senator Anjes Tjarks (Greens), while the CDU state and parliamentary group leader Dennis Thering Weidels appears as problematic and describes it as the "supporter of Russia". AfD parliamentary group leader Dirk Nockemann reacted indignantly to the criticism and spoke of violent blockages by leftists.

The Hamburg police have ordered temporary road closures in the city center, especially in the districts of St. Georg, old town and Neustadt. A spell mile applies within a radius of 350 meters around the town hall, in which demonstrations are prohibited. Despite the assessment of the police, which assumes a total of around 2,000 participants, there were indications of a possibly higher number of protesters on social networks. In a previous protest campaign "Hamburg stands up", 130,000 people gathered at the Hamburg Jungfernstieg, which indicates a high level of mobilization ability of the opposing groups.

like ndr the location is tense, while the demonstrating opposite Moving as racist, antifeminist and hostile to Weidel's statements. In this context, the radio station Ahoy plans to support the protest campaigns with the song "Cry for Love" by "Die Doctors", whose permanent looping playback has been announced for the evening.

The current developments in Hamburg show how polarizing the political discussion in Germany is still. Such protests and the associated road closures are an expression of a larger social conflict about values and opinions, which is also visible again and again in other cities. Further information on the protests against Weidel's appearance can be found on tag24 .