Organisers say 242,000 turned out to express opposition to racism and xenophobia

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Protesters from across Germany have marched through Berlin against racism, xenophobia and the far right in one of the country’s biggest rallies of recent years.

Organisers put the turnout at 242,000 people. The demonstration on Saturday followed anti-immigration protests in several eastern cities over the summer and a rise in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party before a state election in Bavaria on Sunday.

A police spokesman declined to estimate the size of the crowd at the march, which was organised by a broad alliance of associations, labour unions, parties and rights groups including Amnesty International.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Demonstrators gather in Berlin’s Tiergarten district. Photograph: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images

Marchers carried placards reading “build bridges not walls”, “united against racism” and “we are indivisible - for an open and free society”. Some danced to pop music on a warm autumn day.

The arrival of more than 1 million refugees, many from war zones in the Middle East, has increased support for the AfD. It is expected to fare well in the election in Bavaria, long a stronghold of the conservative Christian Social Union, a member of Angela Merkel’s federal coalition government.

Far-right groups in the eastern city of Chemnitz clashed with police and chased people they believed to be foreign in August after the fatal stabbing of a German man that was blamed on two immigrants. Similar protests took place in Dresden, Köthen and other eastern cities.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A protester makes his feeling known. Photograph: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images

Merkel has accused AfD politicians of using the violent protests to stir up social tensions, although the number of violent attacks on refugees and asylum shelters in Germany fell sharply in the first half of this year.

Two companies have also warned their employees about the dangers of populism before the election in Bavaria, and the head of the BDI industry association has said the economy could be hurt by a wave of nationalism.