Germany Pegida protests: 49,000 Germans Rally Aganst Ani-immigrant Fascists over 'Islamisation'[Picture]

Dozens of police were hurt at the weekend when neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists hurled bottles and fireworks.

During Mrs Merkel’s visit, protesters outside the centre chanted slogans including “We are the mob”, mocking remarks used by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel when he visited Heidenau.  source

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

Image copyright AP Image caption Pegida supporters were outnumbered in the Berlin march

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some 18,000 supporters of Pegida attended a rally in Dresden

Lights out

In Cologne, the authorities switched off the lights of the city’s cathedral as a way of warning Pegida supporters they were 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.”

Image copyright AFP Image caption Counter-protests have been opposing the group

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The sign held by this Berlin man reads “No to Islamisation of Europe!”

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

Kathrin Oertel, one of the main organisers of Pegida, 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?            source..