It's a Tuesday evening in the town of Freising, around 30 kilometers north of Munich. A crowd has assembled on Marienplatz square in the Old Town. A police spokesman will later say that there were around 4,000 demonstrators in a town with only 50,000 inhabitants.

A cowbell can be heard ringing again and again. Some farmers from the region have arrived with tractors and protest placards. "Just because we're against government measures that endanger our existence doesn't mean we support the AfD," says one.

Sabrina Walter, 33, a mother of three, is standing in the crowd. One daughter is holding her hand, two children are waiting at home, along with plenty of chores. But not coming was not an option for her. "I want to send a clear message against the rise of right-wing extremism and the AfD," she says as a speaker recalls the horrors of the Nazi era.

She doesn't normally go to demonstrations, so why is she here now? "In my work, I notice that many people with disabilities and their relatives are afraid of the AfD," says the music teacher, who makes folk music and plays the dulcimer.

As darkness falls, demonstrators hold their mobile phones up in the air with the flashlights on – indeed, this has already become one of the iconic symbols of this wave of protests. It guarantees good images, and the symbolism is catchy: The light is still shining in Germany, there is hope in the darkness.