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A nation divided ... Demonstrators protest against the PEGIDA movement in Dresden, Germany. The banner reads 'Against racism and religious fanatism'. Picture: AFP. Source: AFP
WHEN the first protest of its kind was held in Germany in October, only a few hundred people turned up. Now, the weekly Monday night demonstration attracts crowds of up to 10,000.
As Germany emerges as a haven for international immigrants - second only to the US in popularity - huge swathes of the population are intent on keeping certain people out.
The group behind the marches is called Pegida - a German acronym that stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, in English.
Thousands of supporters are regularly braving sub-zero temperatures to march under its banner.
And thousands more are marching against them.
Anti-Islam ... Supporters of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamification of the Occident take part in a rally in Dresden, Germany. Picture: AFP. Source: AFP
Police in the eastern city said the 10,000-strong rally by the group last night - and a counterdemonstration by about 9000 opposers - was peaceful.
But past protests have drawn praise and support from Neo-Nazi groups. Speakers in the latest protests — reported byThe Telegraphas having started in Dresden — have sought to distance Pegida from the far-right extremists of Neo-Nazism.
They say they are protesting against Islamic extremism and perceived abuses to Germany’s generous asylum system, but not against asylum seekers or Muslims in general.
The group says it wants to preserve Germany’s Judeo-Christian Western culture.
On PEGIDA’s Facebook page, organisers urged supporters to “bring your friends and neighbours and let us show the counter-demonstrators that we are not anti-immigrant and not anti-Islam.â€
Conflict ... Pro and anti-Islam protesters rally in Dresden. Picture: AFP. Source: AFP
According to The Telegraph, a local Dresden man, Lutz Bachmann, with no apparent background in politics, started the protests in October.
The Pegida movement has also inspired protests in other German cities. A march in Munich also attracted people in their thousands.
Related demonstrations attracted fewer attendees, with about 600 protesters and 500 counter-protesters showing up at a rally in Berlin, and about 450 protesters and 700 counter-protesters at another in Dusseldorf, police said.