<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Tens of thousands of people were expected to turn out again today to protest against the far-right AfD, after it emerged that party members discussed mass deportation plans at a meeting of extremists.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Some 250,000 demonstrators already gathered in cities across the country yesterday, according to estimate by public broadcaster ARD, with protesters carrying signs such as “Nazis out”.</div><div><br></div><div>Demonstrations were called in around 100 locations across Germany from Friday through the weekend, including in Munich and Berlin today.</div><div><br></div><div>Some 25,000 people were expected at the rally against the far-right in Munich, while another 10,000 were set to join a protest in Cologne, according to ARD.</div><div><br></div><div>Protesters are also set to gather in front of the German parliament in Berlin, and in cities in the east where the AfD has its strongholds.</div><div><br></div><div>The wave of mobilisation against the far-right party was sparked by a Jan 10 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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>News of the gathering sent shockwaves across Germany at a time when the AfD is soaring in opinion polls, just months ahead of three major regional elections in eastern Germany where their support is strongest.</div><div><br></div><div>The anti-immigration party confirmed the presence of its members at the meeting, but has denied taking on the “remigration” project championed by Sellner.</div><div><br></div><div>But leading politicians including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who joined a demonstration last weekend, said any plan to expel immigrants or citizens alike amounted to “an attack against our democracy, and in turn, on all of us”.</div><div><br></div><div>He urged “all to take a stand – for cohesion, for tolerance, for our democratic Germany”.</div><div><br></div><div>Interior minister Nancy Faeser went so far as to say in the newspapers of the Funke press group that the far-right meeting was reminiscent of “the horrible Wannsee conference”, where the Nazis planned the extermination of European Jews in 1942.</div><div><br></div><div>Not only politicians, but church leaders and Bundesliga football managers have called on people to make a stand against the far-right.</div><div><br></div><div>Protesters first gathered last weekend in Berlin and Potsdam, where the extremist meeting was held, and have gathered pace since.</div><div><br></div><div>Yesterday, around 35,000 people gathered in the centre of Frankfurt, responding to the call to “defend democracy” against the AfD.</div><div><br></div><div>“Demonstrating against racism is a must,” protester Maria told AFP in Frankfurt, reports AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“Germany has developed in such a way that racism occurs everywhere in Germany,” she said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>