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MAGDEBURG, Germany — Around 150 businesses operated by people with migration backgrounds shut their doors for several hours on Wednesday in this eastern German city, staging a coordinated strike to voice opposition to the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the anti-immigrant party currently topping opinion polls ahead of next month's state election in Saxony-Anhalt.
The walkout centered on the area surrounding Hasselbachplatz, one of Magdeburg's central squares, where restaurants, barbershops, kiosks and other enterprises suspended operations between 10 am and 3 pm local time (0800-1300 GMT), according to one of the event's organizers. In addition to the closures, demonstrators had arranged to gather for a rally outside the state parliament building later in the day.
Support for the action was not limited to migrant entrepreneurs. Organizers noted that several businesses whose owners do not have migration backgrounds had also announced their intention to take part in the shutdown as a gesture of solidarity.
Saeeid Saeeid of the Saxony-Anhalt refugee council said those behind the strike wanted to challenge the idea that belonging must be earned. "What is important to us is this: Nobody should have to prove through work or economic output that they belong to this society," he said.
Saeeid described an unusually strong spirit of unity among participants in the run-up to the protest. According to him, shopkeepers were encouraging one another, pooling their efforts and making their opposition to racism and social exclusion heard in a peaceful manner. He characterized the mood among the community as marked by an extraordinary sense of solidarity.
A co-organizer, who works as a social worker, said the central purpose of the strike was to highlight everything the city stands to lose if migrant-run enterprises were absent from its streets. She pointed to the often invisible labor that migrants perform daily: keeping care services operational, delivering parcels and staffing jobs in construction and industry.
At the same time, she stressed that the protest was not simply an argument about economic utility. "But we don't want to be seen only as workers, but as people with all their needs," she said.
The organizer framed the shutdown as a signal meant to jolt the broader public into paying attention. She said the action was intended as a wake-up call to society and an appeal to voters to examine the AfD's political program closely rather than taking it at face value.
The demonstration comes less than two weeks before Saxony-Anhalt goes to the polls. Voters in the state are scheduled to elect a new parliament on September 6, and the contest has drawn national attention because of the standing of the AfD's regional branch.
The party's organization in Saxony-Anhalt is classified by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as a far-right extremist group. Despite that designation, it currently sits at the top of statewide surveys and is campaigning for an outright majority — an outcome that would allow it to lead a state parliament for the first time in the party's history.
For the shopkeepers, restaurateurs and tradespeople who took part in Wednesday's closure, the hours spent behind darkened windows were meant to make that possibility tangible. By briefly withdrawing their presence from everyday life in Magdeburg, organizers hope residents will consider what the city would look like without them — and cast their ballots accordingly on September 6.
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