Migrant shop owners called to strike ahead of Saxony-Anhalt election

The Refugee Council (Flüchtlingsrat) in Saxony-Anhalt has called on migrant shop owners to strike on August 26 to protest racism and ostracisation ahead of the much-anticipated state election.

Flüchtlingsrat calls for strike in Saxony-Anhalt

“We are closing our doors so that the doors to a free and democratic society are not closed tomorrow,” the Flüchtlingsrat wrote in a press release. The council has called on migrant shop owners to voluntarily close their doors between 10am and 3pm on August 26 to protest racism and ostracisation. 

The organisation, which represents refugees and migrants in the eastern federal state, said their campaign was “prompted by experiences of racism and social exclusion, as well as political debates in which people’s sense of belonging is increasingly being called into question on the basis of their background”. 

The strike is scheduled to take place 11 days before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, which many are calling one of the most significant German elections in postwar history. 

AfD could win absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt

The AfD is currently polling at 43 percent and if it wins an absolute majority on September 6, it would be the first time that a far-right party, with a local branch officially considered “confirmed right-wing extremist” by intelligence services, would appoint a state premier and govern a federal state alone.

The AfD’s manifesto for Saxony-Anhalt outlines plans for segregated schools or classes for children from a recent migrant background or with disabilities, discouraging “sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles”, promoting the “normal family”, a “180-degree turn on migration” and “remigration”.

“Calls for mass deportations and the marginalisation of people with a migration background from our society also trigger fear and uncertainty among many people with a refugee or migration background,” the Flüchtlingsrat wrote. 

Other polls, however, suggest that the AfD could be two seats short of an absolute majority once the results roll in. These seats would likely go to CDU candidates, and according to the CDU’s current official party line, they would uphold the so-called firewall (Brandmauer) and refuse to join a coalition with the AfD.

But the CDU’s track record suggests this would do little to slow or stop AfD policies being passed. A recent Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB) study found that between 2019 and 2024, the AfD policies have received support from almost all mainstream parties. In cases of cooperation with the AfD, the CDU participated 62 percent of the time, FDP 50 percent, SPD 38 percent, and Greens/the Left on one in every four occasions.

Participating shopkeepers and supporters have been invited to join a demonstration at 1pm in front of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament (Landtag) on August 26.