Tens of thousands of people protested in Berlin on Sunday against the far-right coming to power, in stark contrast to a controversial call by the US vice president for German parties to pursue such an alliance, writes The Brussels Times.

The demonstration, with approximately 30,000 participants according to police and 38,000 according to organisers, took place just a week before the national elections, amid waning mobilisation against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

A similar protest on 8 February in Munich drew 250,000 people, while another on 2 February in Berlin attracted between 160,000 and 250,000 participants. Sunday’s rally in Berlin was held under the slogan “Hand in Hand, We Are the Firewall”.

This refers to the “cordon sanitaire” maintained by traditional German parties since World War II to avoid national cooperation with far-right movements. Recently, however, conservatives have broken this taboo by initiating rapprochement with the AfD in Parliament.

On Friday, in a fiery speech against Europe at the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President JD Vance specifically urged German political parties, particularly the traditional right, to stop ostracising the far right.