Munich, Germany (AFP) — Hundreds of thousands joined rallies against the far-right AfD party in Germany on Sunday, capping a week-long wave of protest that has seen demonstrators turn out in unusually large numbers across the country.

Between Friday and Sunday alone, protests were organized in some 100 locations, with organizers Campact and Fridays for Future estimating that over 1.4 million people had gone out into the streets to send a “signal against the AfD and the rightwards drift in German society.”

The influx of demonstrators was so large in Munich on Sunday that organizers were forced to cancel a planned march and ask people to disperse for safety reasons.

Around 100,000 had turned up for the protest, according to local police, four times as many as were registered for the event.

Another 100,000 people gathered to protest in Berlin on Sunday evening, according to police figures cited by regional broadcaster RBB.

The wave of mobilization against the far-right party was sparked by a 10 January report by investigative outlet Correctiv, which revealed that AfD members had discussed the expulsion of immigrants and “non-assimilated citizens” at a meeting with extremists.

Among the participants at the talks was Martin Sellner, a leader of Austria’s Identitarian Movement, which subscribes to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that claims there is a plot by non-white migrants to replace Europe’s “native” white population.

WITH AFP