The government’s energy policy has made thousands of people to take to the streets mainly in cities in eastern Germany to protest again as the prices soar.
The Police said 6,000 people had gathered in more than 12 cities in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Monday evening.
1,600 came to demonstrate in the state capital Schwerin alone, while several hundred people attended rallies in the towns of Wismar, Parchim, Ludwigslust, Güstrow, Neubrandenburg, Neustrelitz and Waren an der Müritz, among others.
Also, thousands took to the streets in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt.
The extremist and Islamophobic Pegida movement met again for the first time for what it calls a “Great Dresden Evening Walk” after a month-long break.
According to the police, several hundred Pegida supporters gathered on Dresden’s Neumarkt square, while almost the same number of mainly young people attended a counter-protest.
In the city of Magdeburg, about 150 kilometres west of Berlin, 1,100 people came to a gathering organised by the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
A police spokesperson said there were clashes between participants and counter-demonstrators during a protest in Leipzig.
The march was blocked by a counter-protest with several hundred participants.