Germans must capitalise on anti-AfD momentum, says political veteran

Exclusive: Time is ripe for challenge to growing far-right support, says former Bundestag president

A former president of the German Bundestag has urged the country’s political leaders to seize on the momentum of recent nationwide demonstrations against far-right populism to build “an alliance of democrats”, comparing the outpouring of anger to the protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Wolfgang Thierse, a veteran social democrat considered by many to be a moral authority in contemporary Germany, said he was shocked by the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has struggled to distance itself from revelations that party members attended a meeting at which plans for the mass deportation of foreigners were discussed.