By G. Dunkel
December 5, 2025

Tens of thousands of people came out into the streets of Giessen, a city of 90,000 people about 40 miles north of Frankfurt in western Germany, on Nov. 29 to protest the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party setting up a new youth group, Generation Deutschland.

The far right-wing AfD got the second largest vote in the last federal elections in February – 20% – and appears poised to win substantially more in local elections coming up early in 2026.

According to Widersetzen (Resist), which is a national anti-fascist alliance, a wide range of organizations took part in the protests, including unions, social welfare associations, women’s groups, foreigners’ councils and climate activists. (The Green Party was meeting at the same time as the AfD.)

Widersetzen said that 50,000 people took part in the sit-ins, road blockages and generalized civil disobedience. The 5,000 cops used water cannons and tear gas to open the roads and claimed that a couple of handfuls of their members were slightly injured.

The AfD meeting drew around 800 people and opened two hours late due to the road blockages.

The French newspaper L’Humanité on Sept. 9 points to the decision of the right-wing Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union-led government in alliance with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens to increase military spending by 32% and institute budget reforms on pensions and social spending as probably the most significant factors in this growing popular discontent.

In a bid to appease President Donald Trump and to confront Russia over Ukraine, the German imperialist government plans to build the most powerful army in the European Union. Since Germany has one of the world’s strongest economies, the difficulties in carrying out this militarist policy are political –  every dollar for arms reduces social support for the working class.

Some anti-imperialist parties and organizations said they would not participate in Widersetzen’s coalition because it failed to criticize the CDU/SDU regime for its decision to build Germany’s military. While they agreed the AfD should be countered, they said it was also necessary to challenge the existing regime.