Overview
- Organizers and police put turnout at about 4,000, and officers temporarily closed Marienplatz because of overcrowding.
- The protest focused on AfD plans to use the ex-Starlight cinema as a party office with a venue, a use the city says was formally notified on January 15 by Benjamin Nolte and Gerrit Huy.
- AfD lawmaker Nolte previously said in a December Instagram video that the premises had been rented for months and invited supporters to visit.
- AfD Bavaria’s spokesman said the party does not plan a culture center at the site, leaving the party’s intentions unclear despite the rental and filing.
- Weilheim’s mayor opposed the venue as bringing unrest, the city council issued a unanimous pro-democracy declaration, and officials are pursuing zoning steps, with the dispute unfolding as Nolte campaigns for Landrat on March 8.