The silent majority on the streets? Who actually goes to demonstrations against right-wing extremism.
Since the beginning of 2024, protests against right-wing extremism have been very popular across Germany. But is it really a "silent majority" that is standing up for democracy? Marco Bitschnau and Sebastian Koos found that the participants mostly feel they belong to the upper middle class, are politically left of centre and have above-average educational qualifications. Many have no experience of protesting and are concerned about the rise of the AfD, but are more nuanced when it comes to dealing with the party and its supporters. You can find the policy paper here. You can find detailed newspaper articles on the study in German from the NZZ here, from the Südkurier here and from Focus here.