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Migrant-run businesses in the eastern German city of Magdeburg closed for several hours on Wednesday in a coordinated act of protest against the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD). The demonstration came as the party's branch in Saxony-Anhalt — classified as far-right extremist by the domestic intelligence agency — tops opinion polls ahead of a crucial state election next month.
Around 150 establishments took part, according to an organizer. The participating businesses — restaurants, barbershops, kiosks and other ventures — are concentrated in the area surrounding Hasselbachplatz, one of the central squares of Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. They remained closed from 10 am to 3 pm local time (0800 to 1300 GMT).
In the run-up to the strike, activists had been busy preparing the ground. Posters calling on shopkeepers to join the walkout appeared across the district, and images published ahead of the action showed a man putting up one such notice against the backdrop of the AfD's strong poll numbers.
The closures formed only part of the day's protest. A rally in front of the state parliament in Magdeburg had also been organized for Wednesday, giving participants the opportunity to make their voices heard well beyond their own shopfronts.
For those behind the action, the strike was never simply about commerce. "What is important to us is this: Nobody should have to prove through work or economic output that they belong to this society," said Saeeid Saeeid of the refugee council in Saxony-Anhalt.
The movement clearly resonated beyond the migrant community itself. Business owners who are not themselves migrants also announced plans to join the strike, keeping their premises shut for the day in a visible display of support.
Saeeid said the atmosphere among participants had exceeded expectations. He spoke of "an extraordinary sense of solidarity" within the community, noting that business owners were motivating one another, joining forces and raising their voices peacefully against racism and exclusion.
One of the co-organizers explained the thinking behind the shutdown: it was designed to show residents precisely what would disappear from daily life if migrant-run businesses ceased to exist. Migrants, she pointed out, keep care services running, deliver parcels across the city and fill positions in construction and industry.
Yet she was equally adamant that the protest should not be read as an argument for tolerance based purely on economic utility. "But we don't want to be seen only as workers, but as people with all their needs," said the co-organizer, who works as a social worker.
In her view, the strike was conceived as a wake-up call addressed to society at large — and, implicitly, as an appeal to voters to look closely at the AfD's programme before the election rather than being swayed by slogans alone.
The electoral stakes could hardly be higher for the region. Saxony-Anhalt elects a new state parliament on September 6, and the AfD's branch there currently leads opinion surveys. The party is pursuing an absolute majority, which would enable it to lead a state parliament for the first time in its history.
That prospect has unsettled many in Magdeburg's migrant communities, given that the regional AfD is formally classified as a far-right extremist group by Germany's domestic intelligence agency. Wednesday's shuttered windows and darkened dining rooms, organizers hope, offered a brief glimpse of what the city stands to lose — and a reminder that its migrant residents intend to make themselves heard.
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