Germany: Far-right demo broken up near Leipzig Pride event

Neo-Nazis and far-right extremists staged a short demonstration in the vicinity of a Pride event in Germany's eastern city of Leipzig on Saturday, the second such counterprotest in a week.

The march was organized to pass within earshot of the 19,000-strong Pride parade, in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) community.

What happened at the far-right gathering?

Police said around 300-400 people took part in the rally by supporters of extreme right politics at the city's main railway station under the banner: "Proud, German, National"

Several violations of the criminal code and Germany's assembly law were identified, police in the state of Saxony wrote in a thread on X, formerly Twitter.

The participants of the far-right rally showed "typical assembly behavior, and partly aggressive or militant behavior" upon arrival, police added.

The neo-Nazi rally was dispersed after a short time. Several hundred participants were detained temporarily "to carry out all criminal procedural measures," Saxony police said.

The rallygoers were subjected to identity checks and searched for dangerous objects.

Pride march draws thousands

Meanwhile, Saturday's Pride event in Leipzig drew a crowd of up to 19,000 people, police wrote on X. The attendees gathered in Augustusplatz, a large square in the east end of the city.

Senior German politicians and LGBT+ community leaders turned out in support, including Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the Vice President of the Bundestag and the Federal Government's Queer Commissioner Sven Lehmann.

Known as Christopher Street Day in Germany, Pride rallies are held in several cities annually to commemorate the civil rights movement that started a decadeslong process to improve LGBTQ rights.

Christopher Street is the location of a 1969 civil rights uprising against police discrimination in New York which began at the Stonewall gay bar.

An alliance "Leipzig takes a stand" had also registered several counterdemonstrations under the motto "No place for Nazis."

Far-right also gathered at Bautzen Pride event earlier in August

Last Saturday on August 10, nearly 700 far-right protesters had arranged a march during a Pride rally in Bautzen, a town in the same state of Saxony as Leipzig, sparking a large police presence. 

The counterprotest was titled, "Against gender propaganda and identity confusion!"

The small right-wing extremist party Freie Sachsen (Free Saxons) also held a protest. 

The marches passed off without major incidents or arrests, police said.

LGBTQ+ rights are seen as under threat from the rise of the far-right, particularly in three eastern German states, which hold elections to pick their regional lawmakers next month.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is on course to make significant gains in Thuringia and Saxony during regional elections on September 1 and in Brandenburg on September 22.

The new far-left party of Sahra Wagenknecht, named after the populist lawmaker and a breakaway from the Left Party, will make its electoral debut and is also expected to perform well.

mm/wd (dpa, epd)