The man likely to lead Germany's next government says there would be no cooperation with the far-right AfD. Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc has faced flak after accepting AfD support on legislation.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Germany to protest against the CDU and AfD.

Thousands of people took to the streets in the southern German city of Freiburg on Monday to demonstrate against the Alternative for Germany (AfD), as protests continue against a shift to the right less than two weeks before the elections.

Hundreds of thousands of Germans protested at the beginning of February against the initiative by the CDU, supported by the AfD, which has been gaining in the polls. The controversy revolves around the deportation of migrants.

More than 200,000 protesters rallied in Munich, Germany, on Saturday against far-right extremism ahead of the country's general election. The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD,