Demonstrators descended on Berlin Sunday to protest the norm-shattering overtures by Germany's conservatives towards the far right as the country heads for a fraught election this month, drawing at least 160,000 people, according to police.

Organisers said 200,000 people had turned out to denounce the breach by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany's unwritten agreement not to work with the far right at the national level, in place since World War II.

After the rally kicked off just outside the Bundestag, Germany's parliament building, some protesters chanted slogans including "Shame on you CDU" before moving on towards the party's headquarters.

Others accused the CDU, currently the main opposition party, and its leader, Friedrich Merz, of having made a "pact with the devil" by seeking the backing of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass an anti-immigration bill.

"(We want to) make as much noise as possible to call for the self-described 'democratic' parties to protect this democracy,"........

© International Business Times