German president calls for alliance against extremism as protests against far right draw thousands

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s president has called for a broad “alliance against extremism” in the wake of a report about far-right discussions of deporting millions of immigrants that prompted protests by hundreds of thousands of people. Germany has seen more than two weeks of protests against the Alternative for Germany party and others on the far right. The Interior Ministry said Monday police figures suggest that some 576,000 people took part in demonstrations between Friday and Sunday. The largely ceremonial head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Germany currently needed “an alliance against extremism and for our democracy.”