Several thousand protest in Germany against Merz’s migration comments

People took to the streets in cities across Germany on Thursday to protest against Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s controversial comments on urban migration.

In Cologne, police recorded around 1,200 demonstrators, while organizers said 5,000 people had taken part in a rally.

In Heidelberg, the Queerfeminist Collective called for a demonstration under the slogan “For a beautiful image of the city,” in which some 1,350 people took part.

In Münster, police said around 1,400 people attended a rally organized by the alliance “Keinen Meter den Nazis” (Not one metre to the Nazis). After the event, the organizers reported 1,600 participants.

Merz said last week that the federal government is correcting past failures in migration policy and making progress: “But we still have this problem in the image of the city, of course, and that’s why the federal interior minister is facilitating and carrying out large-scale deportations.”

On Monday, he doubled down on his position, saying: “Ask your daughters what I might have meant by that. I suspect you’ll get a pretty clear and unequivocal answer.”

The statement prompted further indignation, with protests held in Berlin and over 140,000 people signing an online petition entitled “We are the daughters.”

Two days later, he specified that the problems he was referring to were caused by migrants who did not have permanent residence status, who did not work and who did not abide by the rules applicable in Germany.

Merz’s remarks have been widely criticized as racist, suggesting that urban populations – which are more diverse than those in rural areas in Germany – should be targets for deportation.

Politicians inside and outside his coalition have since attacked the conservative chancellor over the comments.