Tens

Protesters in about 20 cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, demand the banning of the Alternative for Germany.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Germany to protest against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) after the far-right party won a state election by a landslide.

About 150,000 demonstrators turned out in roughly 20 cities on Saturday, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, in rallies organised by Pruef, a campaign group pushing for a ban on the AfD.

Protesters carried signs reading “Ban the AfD now” and “Democracy needs no alternatives.”

“A broad cross-section of civil society is taking to the streets to prevent the enemies of the constitution … from gaining government power,” said Christoph Bautz, head of Campact, another campaign group involved in the protests, which put turnouts at about 25,000 in Hamburg and 12,000 in Munich.

According to police, several thousand more joined separate demonstrations in Berlin.

The AfD held its own counter-rally in the German capital, attended by Kristin Brinker, the party’s lead candidate for Berlin’s upcoming regional election.

The protests follow a stunning result for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, a state in eastern Germany, where the party took nearly 44 percent of the vote on September 6 — far ahead of the roughly 17 percent won by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which has long dominated German politics.

The AfD, known for its anti-immigration stance and friendly posture towards Russia, fell just short of an outright majority and is now in talks with other parties to try to form a government, which would make it the first far-right party to lead a German state since the Nazi era ended in 1945.

AfD state leader Ulrich Siegmund called the result historic, telling supporters: “The people have made it absolutely clear that they finally want political change and, above all, they have shown that they want it with us.” He has since signalled openness to working with other parties, after previously saying he wanted to govern alone.

The AfD’s growing strength has deeply unsettled many Germans, given the country’s history and its commitment to never repeating it.

The party is projected to win 39 of 83 seats in the state parliament, three short of a majority. It now needs a coalition partner, though all mainstream parties have so far refused to govern with the AfD under a longstanding policy known as the “firewall.” The far-right party has never joined a governing coalition anywhere in Germany, at either state or national level.

The unease has fuelled growing calls to ban the AfD altogether, though that would be legally difficult in Germany, and Chancellor Merz has been reluctant to pursue it.

People have been advised to stay indoors because of the ash fallout

Hundreds of flights have been suspended after an airport had to be closed because of the ash cloud caused by a volcanic eruption. Tens of thousands of passengers have been left stranded. 209 flights were suspended after ash from Anak Krakatau blew into the airspace near Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Sunday.

Soekarno-Hatta is the main airport in Indonesia. The volcano started erupting on Friday night and there were two more eruptions on Sunday. More than 22,000 people have been hit by the suspension of flights, which has hity major international routes.

There is no tsunami warning linked to the eruption in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. The health minister has urged residents to stay indoors and wear face masks.

Local newspaper Kompas said schools cancelled activities on Saturday after students reported eye irritations. Fishing vessels have also been grounded amid health concerns.

Resident Aldi Candra Prayogi told Kompas it felt like “small grains of sand had gotten into my eyes” and he is having to clear the path outside his home every five minutes.

Anak Krakatau emerged from the sea in 1927 inside the caldera formed by the catastrophic, climate-altering eruption of the original Krakatoa volcano in 1883.

Indonesia’s Geological Agency said the volcanic island located in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait between the main Java and Sumatra islands had shown signs of activity since Friday before erupting for 30 seconds at 3.53am.

CCTV footage showed lava flares from the volcano. No casualties were reported and no evacuation order was issued. The nearest settlement is more than 16 kilometres (10 miles) away, but authorities warned residents and visitors to stay at least three kilometres (2 miles) from the active crater.

Volcanic ash spread across parts of Jakarta and Lampung province on Sumatra’s southern tip, Indonesia’s centre for volcanology and geological hazard mitigation said. AirNav Indonesia closed airspace around Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports in Jakarta, as well as four other airports, including Radin Inten II Airport in Lampung, because of volcanic ash.

By mid-afternoon, the closure had affected 516 flight movements, with 202 in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone, affecting about 22,800 passengers, on Sunday. The airport was ordered closed until at least 5.30pm.

Indonesia’s directorate general of civil aviation said it was closely monitoring the eruption’s impact on air travel and co-ordinating with airlines, airport operators, air navigation services and the meteorology agency.

“Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision,” Lukman F Laisa, ministry of transportation director general of civil aviation, said in a statement.

He warned flight schedules could face cascading disruptions affecting aircraft rotations, fleet availability and terminal capacity as airlines work to restore operations.

The eruption also disrupted services at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and at Medan.

Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre identified two ash clouds using satellite imagery. One plume rose to 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) and drifted northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters. A second cloud reached 50,000 feet (15,200 meters) and spread over parts of Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces, the southern Sunda Strait and sections of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra.

Lana Saria, head of Indonesia’s geological agency, said activity at Anak Krakatau has intensified since July, with Sunday’s eruption the strongest during the current period of unrest.

The repeated eruptions indicate a continued supply of magma and volcanic gases beneath the volcano, she said, though officials cannot predict whether a larger eruption will occur.

“We continue to evaluate the volcano’s development based on all monitoring data, not solely on the number of eruptions or the height of the ash column,” Ms Saria said in a video briefing.

She said the main hazards include volcanic ash, high concentrations of gas and the ejection of hot rocks and other material around the crater area.