Record 17,000 anti-Islamic protesters rally in Germany

Record 17,000 anti-Islamic protesters rally in Germany

PanARMENIAN.Net - A record 17,000 anti-Islamic protesters rallied for their tenth demonstration in as many weeks Monday, Dec 22, in eastern Germany, celebrating the rise of their far-right populist movement by singing Christmas carols, according to AFP.

Germany has for weeks grappled with the emergence of the "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" or PEGIDA, whose ranks in the city of Dresden have swelled rapidly from just a few hundred in October.

About 4,500 counter-demonstrators marched through the city under the slogan "Dresden Nazi-free", warning that there was no space for racism and xenophobia in the country that perpetrated the Holocaust.

Most PEGIDA followers insist they are not Nazis but patriots who worry about the "watering down" of their Christian-rooted culture and traditions. They often accuse mainstream political parties of betraying them and the media of lying.

Smaller clone groups rallied Monday in the western cities of Bonn, Kassel and Wuerzburg, but they only drew up to 200 followers each and were all vastly outnumbered by counter-demonstrations that drew 20,000 nationwide.

Police reported no major violence but said eight people were temporarily detained after confrontations in Kassel, reported DPA.

The biggest anti-PEGIDA march was held in the southern city of Munich, where at least 12,000 rallied under the banner "Make space -- Refugees are welcome".

"We have space for people of different skin color, ethnic origin and mother tongue," city mayor Dieter Reiter told the crowd.

"We have space for all religions and believers: for those who go to the mosque on Fridays, who go to the synagogue on Saturdays, or to church on Sundays, but also for those who prefer to just stay home."

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