Residents of the eastern German city formed a human chain to remember the victims of the 1945 Allied bombing. This year's commemoration came amid fears of rising far-right popularity.
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Thousands of people formed a human chain at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), observing a moment of silence as the city’s church bells rang out.
But participants in the human chain were also remembering the victims of those killed in the German bombing of Coventry, Dresden’s English twin city, in 1940.
Commemorations had long been tense in Dresden, with the issue and past memorials frequently a magnet for the far-right, who would often drastically overstate estimated casualty figures or to try to depict Germany as more of a victim than a perpetrator in World War II.
In 2014, the idea of forming a massive human chain each year to symoblically reclaim the city from far-right demonstrations on January 13 was first established — and became an annual tradition.
This gained added significance this year, as the demonstration took place as the AfD fares strongly in the polls, particularly in the state of Saxony that Dresden is capital of, and as many Germans have begun regularly protesting against their increased support.
For the evening, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party planned events in the landmark Old Market Square, the Altmarkt, in coordination with other right-wing movements.
The original article contains 506 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Thousands of people formed a human chain at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), observing a moment of silence as the city’s church bells rang out.
But participants in the human chain were also remembering the victims of those killed in the German bombing of Coventry, Dresden’s English twin city, in 1940.
Commemorations had long been tense in Dresden, with the issue and past memorials frequently a magnet for the far-right, who would often drastically overstate estimated casualty figures or to try to depict Germany as more of a victim than a perpetrator in World War II.
In 2014, the idea of forming a massive human chain each year to symoblically reclaim the city from far-right demonstrations on January 13 was first established — and became an annual tradition.
This gained added significance this year, as the demonstration took place as the AfD fares strongly in the polls, particularly in the state of Saxony that Dresden is capital of, and as many Germans have begun regularly protesting against their increased support.
For the evening, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party planned events in the landmark Old Market Square, the Altmarkt, in coordination with other right-wing movements.
The original article contains 506 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!