This weekend, thousands of people marched in Berlin, and several other German cities including Nuremberg and Cologne, to protest a bill, proposed by the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, that would toughen the country’s asylum and deportation laws and criminalise pro-migrant activism.
The protest was not the first of its kind. Over the last few months, there have been several coordinated demonstrations over migrant policy across Germany. Between July and September last year, tens of thousands of people dressed in orange, many wearing life jackets, took to the streets to protest a growing clampdown on migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean and the civil society organisations aiding them.
The demonstrations have been led by a new movement, called Seebrücke (German for ‘pier’, literally ‘sea-bridge’), which formed in response to the rising number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean and the criminalisation of non-governmental sea rescue operations. Among the movements demands are for European governments to resume rescue missions, and offer safe and legal escape routes so refugees can exercise their right to seek asylum. The movement has called on municipal authorities to declare themselves a “safe harbour” for refugees in a show of solidarity.
