As a fifth night of anti-AfD protests saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets of German cities, with more expected later on Wednesday, Habeck appeared to support calls to outlaw the party, while stressing the risks of such a move “dangerously backfiring” were it to fail.

The AfD has shifted to the right since its founding in 2013 and has seen a steady increase in its popularity in recent months, in some cases outpolling the government parties.

Over the past week, media and political observers have scrutinised the evidence as to who was among the AfD members, neo-Nazis and rightwing extremist Identitarian movement attenders at the November gathering in Potsdam.

But the Werte Union, which seeks to restrict immigration, bolster the German military and reduce taxes, accused the investigative bureau Correctiv, which revealed that the meeting had taken place, of exaggerating the nature of the agenda.

The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, tweeted on Wednesday: “I am grateful that tens of thousands of people have been going on to the streets of Germany in recent days to protest against racism, rabble-rousing, and for our liberal democracy.

Tareq Alaows, one of the organisers who has been building the alliance since the summer in reaction to the AfD’s rising poll ratings, told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung: “If the political parties can’t succeed in stopping the rightwing extremists, we have to create a human firewall against them.”

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