Germany Pegida protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation'

@BBC

" Supporters and opponents of a group campaigning against what it sees as the "Islamisation" of Europe have held rival rallies across Germany" .

There have been weekly protests by the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida) since October.

A record 18,000 people turned out on Monday at one rally in Dresden.

But counter demonstrations have sprung up and the group has been condemned by senior German politicians.

Thousands of people marched in Berlin, Cologne, Dresden and Stuttgart.

In Berlin, police said that some 5,000 counter-demonstrators blocked hundreds of Pegida supporters from marching along their planned route.

A total of 22,000 anti-Pegida demonstrators rallied in Stuttgart, Muenster and Hamburg, according to the DPS news agency.

But in Dresden, police said that 18,000 people turned up for just one anti-immigration rally. The counter-demonstration attracted 3,000 people.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked the movement in her new year speech, saying its leaders have "prejudice, coldness, even hatred in their hearts".

Pegida organiser Kathrin Oertel responded in a speech at the rally in Dresden. She said that there was "political repression" in Germany once again.

"Or how would you see it when we are insulted or called racists or Nazis openly by all the political mainstream parties and media for our justified criticism of Germany's asylum seeker policies and the non-existent immigration policy?"

German journalist Sigrun Rottman told the BBC that Pegida protesters were mixed but that the marches did include right-wing and racist groups.

She said it was important to note that Dresden, compared to other German cities, had very few immigrants, and even fewer Muslim residents.

Many supporters there felt "hard done-by" and unrepresented by mainstream politics and media, she added.

A poll of just over 1,000 people carried out by Germany's Stern magazine found one in eight Germans would join an anti-Islam march if Pegida organised one near their home.

Germany receives more refugees and asylum seekers than any other EU country. Many of those have come from war-torn Syria.

Source :- BBC