The Christian Social Union mayor of Lindenberg im Allgäu, Bavaria participated in a demonstration on Sunday, February 16th against an AfD campaign event featuring the AfD’s state chairman in Thuringia. The protest was partly organized by radical leftist Antifa groups.
This action followed a complex legal dispute regarding the event’s conditions. Initially, the Bayreuth Administrative Court had ruled in expedited proceedings that while the AfD was permitted to hold the rally, an appearance by Björn Höcke was inadmissible. Later, the Bavarian Administrative Court declared this speaking ban unlawful, reasoning that there was no “sufficiently concrete evidence” to suggest that criminal offenses or administrative violations were to be expected during the appearance.
The counter-demonstration itself—joined by Mayor Eric Ballerstedt—was called for by the “Open Antifascist Meeting Westallgäu” and the “Solidarity Allgäu” far-left alliance. Protesters displayed banners with various slogans, including: “Together against AfD and the rightward shift,” “AfD = Abyss for Germany,” and “Young Future Socialism.”
