In a show of strength which has horrified leftists, more than six thousand German patriots today took part in a mass “Merkel must go” rally in Berlin right in front of the Chancellor’s offices.

The rally, organized by the Wir für Deutschland (“We for Germany”) movement, was one of the largest patriotic open air meetings in “red” Berlin’s recent history, and an indication of the growing resentment in that country.

Although police reports said the rally attendance was “around 3,000,” eyewitnesses such as Ignaz Bearth, leader of Pegida Switzerland, dismissed this claim as propaganda, saying in a Facebook post that his experience in counting crowd sizes in Dresden indicated double the official police figure had turned out.

Participants waved flags from various states including those of Brandenburg and Saxony. European flags—including some Russian colors—were seen as the mass of people moved from the gathering point at the Berlin Central Station to the Brandenburg Gate.

About two hundred antifas tried to block the procession, and attacked the police. The authorities quickly cleared the communists out the way.

The rally comes the day before voting starts in three German states—Rhineland Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, and Baden-Württemberg. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is widely expected to make major gains in these elections, the first to be held since Merkel opened Germany’s borders to the mass nonwhite invasion.

The AfD is polling double digits in all three states, an impressive turnaround for a party which was only founded three years ago and looked close to collapse when its original founder left last July.

In Baden-Württemberg, Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) is, according to the polls, set for a severe setback and might, for the first time since 1948, lose their status as the biggest party in the region.