Tens of thousands of people protested against the growing influence of the German far-right at a rally outside the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, DPA reported.
Protesters used the flashlights on their mobile phones to form what organisers described as a "sea of lights" directed against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Police in the German capital put the number of participants at around 30,000.
The rally was held a month before Germans go to the polls in a general election in which the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic AfD Party is expected to achieve a strong result.
Christoph Bauz, founder of the political pressure group Campact and one of the initiators of the Berlin demonstration, demanded that the main parties maintain their long-standing "firewall" against the far right.
He made a direct appeal to the leader of the conservative opposition, Friedrich Merz, who is leading the list in the 23 February elections and has promised to fight migration if he becomes chancellor.
Bauz said that if Merz found common cause with the AfD to push tougher measures on migration through parliament, then "an uprising of decent people will break out in this country".
The leader of the conservatives has repeatedly said that his CDU/CSU bloc will not form a government with the far right. But this week he sparked a storm of reaction when he suggested he was prepared to accept the party's support in parliament in order to get his migration policies approved. | BGNES
