10/22/2025October 22, 2025
‘Daughters’ protest at CDU headquarters over Merz ‘cityscape’ comments
Merz’s comments have fueled heated debate in GermanyImage: Lilli Förter/dpa/picture alliance
Thousands of people gathered in front of the headquarters of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU)on Tuesday under the motto “We Are the Daughters,” a reference to a comment he made when asked to explain a remark that seemed to many to imply that migrants blight German cities.
Berlin police said some 2,000 people took part in the rally, while organizers claimed that 7,500 attended.
Merz last week noted with approval that fewer people were applying for asylum in Germany, but went on to say: “But we of course still have this cityscape problem, which is why the interior minister is facilitiating and conducting deportations on a very large scale.”
Later, when asked to explain his comment, he said that if anyone were to ask their daughters, they would receive “a fairly clear and unambiguous answer,” thus apparently suggesting that a harsh migration policy aimed to protect women from unwanted attention or harassment from certain immigrants.
Author and climate activist Luise Neubauer summed up the opinion of protesters at Tuesday’s rally, saying that while she welcomed a debate on women’s security, women were not prepared to be used as “an excuse and justification” for hard-line migration measures.
She accused Merz of making comments that are “nothing more than inacceptable, discriminatory and comprehensively racist.”
The former co-leader of the German Green Party, Ricarda Lang, also spoke at the rally, saying women were “not a fig leaf for right-wing narratives.”
The Green’s Ricarda Lang was one of the speakers at the rallyImage: Lilli Förter/dpa/picture alliance
Banners at the protest carried slogans such as “Racism is a problem in the cityscape” and “Daughters for a diverse cityscape.”
Merz, who has so far refused to retract his remark, has, however, received support from several conservative politicians, including Bavarian Premier Markus Söder, who said opposition to the remarks was fueled by “a left-wing campaign” that was trying to “distract from the reality” of the situation.
