Germany's Far-Right AfD Party Faces Nationwide Protests Amid Surge in Popularity

Recent revelations of a secret meeting discussing forced deportation plans have sparked widespread outrage, leading to protests in cities and rural areas alike.

• Germany's far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has seen a surge in popularity, polling at 22% nationwide, second only to the Christian Democrats, and over 30% in several states.
• The AfD has been linked to neo-Nazi groups and has been accused of propagating an ideology of 'authoritarian national radicalism', advocating for a hierarchically ordered, ethnically homogeneous society overseen by a strong-arm state.
• Recent revelations have exposed a secret meeting in November where ranking AfD personalities met with known neo-Nazis and wealthy financiers to discuss plans for the forced deportation of foreign nationals and even foreign-born German citizens, a concept they refer to as 'remigration'.
• Protests against the AfD have spread across Germany, with as many as 1 million people taking to the streets in cities and rural areas alike to demonstrate against the party's radicalism.
• The AfD's youth organization, Junge Alternative, and three federal states in eastern Germany are now under observation by Germany’s top domestic security agency as a threat to the democratic order.

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