Thousands of people took to the streets of Plauen in the eastern German state of Saxony on Saturday to protest Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government, demanding its resignation and snap elections.
The demonstration was organized by the nationwide Unity for Germany / Project M1llion initiative. Saxon police put attendance at around 10,000, including activists from the right-wing Free Saxons party, which backed the rally.
“This cartel, this government must go!” a speaker told the crowd, drawing applause. Footage showed demonstrators marching through the city under a heavy police presence, chanting slogans and carrying German flags and placards reading “Merz must go!”
“[Merz] has made it even worse than his predecessors. And if he keeps going like this, then Germany will soon go dark,” one protester said.
The organizers issued an 11-point list of demands, including early elections, lower electricity and gas costs, a nationwide €29 public transport ticket and changes to healthcare policy. They also called for tougher migration policies and criticized Merz’s military spending. The chancellor recently pledged to turn the Bundeswehr into the “strongest conventional army in Europe,” citing the purported Russian threat – a notion Moscow has repeatedly ridiculed. Berlin has also agreed to raise core defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029.
“More and more money is spent on rearmament, at the expense of the people,” another protester said. “The chancellor must resign. There must be new elections so that this situation can change.”
Merz faces plunging approval ratings amid economic stagnation, stalled domestic reforms, and friction within the governing coalition. A July ARD-DeutschlandTrend poll by Infratest Dimap found that 84% of Germans were dissatisfied with the performance of Merz and his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc. His approval rating stood at just 13% – the lowest recorded for a German chancellor since tracking began in 1997. Meanwhile, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged in national polls, with some surveys putting it level with or ahead of Merz’s bloc.
The ruling coalition earlier this summer announced a package of so-called “sweeping reforms” aimed at reviving the struggling economy, including modest tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, pension changes and stricter sick-leave rules.
However, critics, including AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, dismissed the proposals as “minimal compromises that don’t deserve to be called ‘reforms.’” Weidel, who has repeatedly argued that restoring economic ties with Russia and returning to Russian gas are key to reviving Germany’s economy, added: “Cheap energy from Russia was the secret of the success of ‘Made in Germany’. We need it back.”
The polling figures come just weeks before crucial regional elections in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the AfD leads in the polls and could take control of a regional government for the first time. Amid growing public discontent, Merz’s own party has reportedly begun discussing his political future. Politico reported this week that there is increasingly open talk of a Kanzlertausch, or “chancellor swap,” in the fall, following a widely criticized government reshuffle in June.