Huge rally in Bremen as German protests against far-right continue

The north-western German city of Bremen saw thousands of people fill its streets on Sunday to demonstrate against right-wing extremism, as weeks of nationwide protests continued at the weekend.
The police estimated the number of participants at around 16,500, while the organizers put it higher at 25,000. The rally was organized by a new alliance in Bremen of left-wing and anti-fascist groups.
About 45,000 people had turned out in Bremen for a similar protest a week ago.
Street protests have been held in cities big and small following a report published on January 10 by investigative journalist group Correctiv.
The report revealed details of a meeting in November between radical right-wingers and individual politicians from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in which plans for the expulsion of millions of people with immigrant backgrounds were discussed.
On Saturday afternoon in Berlin, strangers locked hands outside the historic Reichstag parliament building to form a human chain. Police said more than 150,000 participated, although others said as many as 300,000 people were there.
About 30,000 people rallied on Saturday in both the eastern city of Dresden and Freiburg in the Black Forest. Another 25,000 came out in Bavaria's Augsburg. Thousands more protested at other rallies.
A majority of German citizens say they welcome the protests against the far-right.
Some 55% favoured the demonstrations in a survey conducted by the INSA opinion research institute for the Sunday edition of the Bild newspaper. In contrast, 26% were opposed and 12% were indifferent.
In the survey, participants were also asked whether democracy in Germany was in danger.
Some 61% of respondents thought so, while a third of respondents did not consider German democracy to be in danger.