Tens of thousands of Germans protest against far-right

Published

10 months ago

January 22, 2024

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Tens of thousands of Germans have taken to the streets to protest against the far-right.

The demonstrations are in response to a report claiming that several members of the far-right Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) had taken part in a meeting where plans to deport migrants en masse were discussed.

In Berlin, crowds braved freezing temperatures to show their condemnation.

Signs read “Racism is not an alternative” and “Nazis out”.

Organisers said 350,000 had gathered, while local media reported police put the number at 100,000.

“We need to do much more about what’s going on in Germany, we don’t want any Nazis coming back and we want to have a colourful society,” said Lydia who held her rainbow sign aloft.

Many are afraid Germany is going in a direction they aren’t comfortable with.

“Racist people are growing and we would like to send a sign that we don’t like it,” explained Uvi.

Dalila added: “It makes me scared. You can feel it everywhere; there’s a movement going more and more to the right side. That’s why I like to come here.”

In Munich, protests had to be called off due to overcrowding after around 100,000 people showed up.

Huge crowds also gathered in cities including Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg over the weekend.

Many demonstrators are calling for the AfD party to be banned.

Some have compared the so-called “remigration” proposal with the Nazis’ initial plan to deport European Jews to Madagascar.

“What we see here is not oblivious to history, but deliberately pursuing Nazi ideologies; what we see are right-wing extremist networks and right-wing extremist ideologies,” German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, recently told reporters.

This is a clear attempt to define ethnically who belongs in Germany and who does not and we will not allow that.”

In a video message ahead of the weekend’s demonstrations, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the protests as “good and right”.

He warned: “Right-wing extremists are attacking our democracy. They want to destroy our cohesion.”

Investigation uncovers alleged ‘master plan’

The investigation by journalism network Correctiv alleged a “master plan” for the mass deportation of German asylum-seekers and German citizens of foreign origin was discussed at a meeting in Potsdam in November attended by members of the AfD, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists.

Two members of the Christian Democrats (CDU), the party of former chancellor Angela Merkel, were also said to be present, although it’s reported neither holds an office in the party.

At the meeting, the Austrian leader of the far-right Identitarian Movement, Martin Sellner, reportedly proposed a project of “remigration” which would see “unassimilated” immigrants forced to leave Germany even if they had citizenship.

The idea for deportees to be sent to a “model state” in North Africa was also floated, Correctiv reported, citing hidden camera footage, accounts by attendees and reporters staking out the hotel where the meeting was held.

AfD denies plans are party policy

The AfD, which is polling second in nationwide surveys, has denied the plans are party policy.

Co-leader Alice Weidel parted ways with one of her advisers who participated in the talks.

Simon Green, professor of politics at Aston University, said: “To ban a party which is actually doing quite well which has significant public support brings with it real political risks as well because what happens to those supporters.

“Defeating populist and extreme right-wing parties through legal means is a process which is flawed with risk. Typically, it is better to defeat these parties politically than legally.”

Despite the AfD’s denial, numerous cities have seen demonstrations throughout the week.

The AfD is under investigation by security authorities in several German states and risks being declared an extremist organisation by national authorities, which could lead to it being banned.

The party denies it is extremist or racist.

World

At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

Published

2 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.

The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.

All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.

Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.

It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.

World

COP29: UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, warn leading figures

Published

4 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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COP29: UN climate summits 'no longer fit for purpose', warn leading figures

UN climate talks are “no longer fit for purpose” and should only be hosted by countries who are trying to give up fossil fuels, veterans of the process have said.

An open letter to the United Nations, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, made a dramatic intervention in the 29th COP climate summit, under way in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Frustration over petrostate hosts – following last year’s summit in UAE – as well as the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists, prohibitive costs, and slow progress have been mounting in recent years.

The letter acknowledges the strides COPs have made on ramping up climate policies.

“But it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose,” the authors said.

“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”

The letter’s 22 signatories also include former Ireland President Mary Robinson and Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN climate body (UNFCCC) that runs the annual COP summits.

It called for the process to be streamlined and for countries to be held accountable for their promises.

Sky News analysis has found only “marginal” progress has been made since the “historic” pledge from COP28 last year to transition away from fossil fuels.

COP29 Analysis:
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The letter also called for “strict eligibility criteria” for host countries to exclude those “who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy”.

This year’s host country, petrostate Azerbaijan, has been engulfed in controversy.

Its authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev used his opening address to criticise western hypocrisy and praise oil and gas as a “gift” from God. His criticism of France, with whom relations have long been tense, drove the French minister to cancel a trip to the summit.

While the government and its COP team run separate operations, host countries are supposed to smooth over disagreements and find consensus between the almost 200 countries gathered.

COP presidencies are also nominating themselves to be climate leaders and throwing their own countries under the spotlight.

Azerbaijan is a small developing country that relies significantly on oil and gas revenues. But it has made slow progress on building out clean power – getting just 1.5% of its energy from clean sources – and led a harsh crackdown on critics in the run up to the COP.

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, its lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev was unable to say whether Azerbaijan preferred to extract all its oil and gas or seek another, cleaner economic pathway – hard though that would be.

In a news conference yesterday, Mr Rafiyev said the president had been “quite clear” and he would not comment further.

“We have opened our doors to everybody,” he added.

Some diplomats here have hinted that Azerbaijan’s presidency team mean well but might be a little out of their depth. They have never been out in front at previous COPs, but they also only had a year to prepare for their turn hosting the mighty summit.

“My sense of this is that they’re a little underprepared, a little overwhelmed and a little bit short,” said one, speaking anonymously, as is customary for diplomats trying to maintain good relations.

“But I’m not sure that that’s politics. It might just be bandwidth and preparation and things like that.”

Different regions in the world take turns to host a COP. This year it was up to Eastern Europe, but the selection process took longer than usual due to tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and between Azerbaijan and rival Armenia.

Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme, called it “troubling” that some countries face questions over their host roles.

“Are there countries that are by definition good hosts and others are bad hosts?” he asked.

“In the United Nations, we maintain the principle of every nation, first of all, should have a right to be heard.

“Labels are not always the fairest way of describing a nation. Some of the largest oil producers have hosted this COP in the past, and seemingly this seemed to be a perfectly acceptable phenomenon.”

COP stands for “conference of the parties” and refers to countries (“parties”) who have signed the underlying climate treaty.

Azerbaijan’s COP29 team and the UN’s climate body have been contacted with a request to comment.

World

Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners

Published

20 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to 'smoke out' thousands of illegal miners

A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.

The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.

Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.

It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.

The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.

Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.

A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.

It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.

“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.

Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.

In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.

Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.

Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.

The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.

Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.

Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.