Anti-Muslim protests take place in Germany despite plea from Angela Merkel
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/antimuslim-protests-take-place-in-germany-despite-plea-from-angela-merkel-30885188.html
* Anti-Muslim rallies are now regular event in Dresden
* Merkel says protesters are racist, motivated by hatred
* Counter-demonstrations much bigger in Berlin, Cologne
Some 18,000 people, the biggest number so far, turned out in Dresden on Monday but similar rallies in Berlin and the western city of Cologne were heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters who accuse PEGIDA of fanning racism and intolerance.
The PEGIDA protesters waved Germany's black, red and gold flag and brandished posters bearing slogans such as "Against religious fanaticism and every kind of radicalism".
Read more here: Concern in Germany over rise of far-right as thousands march against 'Islamisation of the West'
One poster in Cologne called for "potatoes rather than doner kebabs", a swipe at ethnic Turks who at around three million represent Germany's largest immigrant community.
Germany has some of the world's most liberal asylum rules, partly due to its Nazi past. The number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany, many from the Middle East, jumped to around 200,000 last year -- four times as many as in 2012.
In her New Year address last week, Merkel urged Germans to shun the anti-Muslim protesters, saying their hearts were full of hatred.
"We need to ... say that right-wing extremism, hostility towards foreigners and anti-Semitism should not be allowed any place in our society," Merkel said on Monday in the eastern town of Neustrelitz.
Read more here: Merkel warns Germans not to be duped by far right rhetoric
In Cologne, home to a large Muslim population, there were 10 times as many counter-demonstrators as PEGIDA protesters. In similarly multi-ethnic Berlin, some 5,000 counter-demonstrators swamped around 400 anti-Muslim protesters, local police said.
"Germany is a country where refugees are welcome and the silent majority must not remain silent but rather go out onto the streets and show itself," Justice Minister Heiko Maas said at the Berlin counter-demonstration.
Cologne Cathedral, one of Germany's most famous landmarks, switched its lights off to protest against the anti-Muslim rallies. Berlin's Brandenburg Gate turned off its floodlights in a similar gesture of solidarity.
PEGIDA has unsettled Germany's political establishment and at first looked likely to help the Eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany (AfD). But the party, already suffering an internal power struggle, is split over how to deal with the movement.
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