All That Matters | Germany Pegida protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation' Of Europe @lookskewl087 | Uploaded 9 years ago | Updated 3 hours ago
Germany Pegida protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation' Of Europe
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.
Lights out
In Cologne, the authorities switched off the lights of the city's cathedral as a way of telling Pegida supporters they are supporting "extremists".
"We don't think of it as a protest, but we would like to make the many conservative Christians [who support Pegida] think about what they are doing," the dean of the cathedral, Norbert Feldhoff, told the BBC.
Only about 250 Pegida supporters showed up in Cologne, compared to thousands of counter-demonstrators.
Much of the city centre was also plunged into darkness as lights were switched off at major buildings and bridges across the Rhine, according to the news agency DPA.
"Today, there is really a democratic sign being sent and a lot of people in Cologne are expressing their opinion," said Cologne mayor Juergen Roters.
"They want to stress that we here in Cologne do not want to have anything to do with right-wing extremists and xenophobic people."
In Dresden, carmaker Volkswagen said it was also keeping its manufacturing plant dark to show that the company "stands for an open, free and democratic society."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30685842
Germany Pegida protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation' Of Europe
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.
Lights out
In Cologne, the authorities switched off the lights of the city's cathedral as a way of telling Pegida supporters they are supporting "extremists".
"We don't think of it as a protest, but we would like to make the many conservative Christians [who support Pegida] think about what they are doing," the dean of the cathedral, Norbert Feldhoff, told the BBC.
Only about 250 Pegida supporters showed up in Cologne, compared to thousands of counter-demonstrators.
Much of the city centre was also plunged into darkness as lights were switched off at major buildings and bridges across the Rhine, according to the news agency DPA.
"Today, there is really a democratic sign being sent and a lot of people in Cologne are expressing their opinion," said Cologne mayor Juergen Roters.
"They want to stress that we here in Cologne do not want to have anything to do with right-wing extremists and xenophobic people."
In Dresden, carmaker Volkswagen said it was also keeping its manufacturing plant dark to show that the company "stands for an open, free and democratic society."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30685842
