More than 200.000 people gathered in Munich today for a new mass protest against the far right, police in the Bavarian capital said.

"Our estimate is that there are more than 200.000 people," said the police, whose first estimate, when the rally began, was half that.

Two weeks before the parliamentary elections, protesters gathered under the slogan "Democracy needs you" are opposing any cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

The organizers of today's "Munich is Colorful" demonstration want to send a "strong signal in favor of diversity, human dignity, togetherness and democracy" ahead of the elections.

"Granny Against the Far Right," a movement created in 2018, inspired by a similar initiative in Austria, today called for demonstrations in several German cities, including Hanover, where, according to police data, 24.000 people protested.

Last week, more than 160.000 people protested against the far right in Berlin.

The protests began last week after conservative chancellor candidate and election frontrunner Friedrich Merz began to approach the AfD as he relied on their support in parliament to pass a non-binding proposal to block all undocumented foreigners, including asylum seekers, at the border.

Traditional parties have so far refused any cooperation at the national level with the far right in the name of the so-called "protective wall" erected against the nationalist and anti-immigrant formation.

The conservatives, who met at a congress earlier this week, made it clear that they ruled out any government with the AfD, which is second in the polls, just behind them.

The snap parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 23.