After Paris terrorist attack, Germany prepares for new anti-Islamic protests

Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European Bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza

The shootings at the Charlie Hebdo office and the attack at a kosher shop in Paris shocked the whole world. They will lead to serious changes in the security systems of EU countries. Today Europeans faced necessary reconsideration of their security policy, just like the U.S. after the terrorist attack of September 11th. Interior Ministers of the EU demanded the development of a pan-European agreement on keeping the personal data of all airline passengers on internal European flights. Moreover, European countries should establish a united database of names of all the militants who have fought in Syria, Iraq and other countries of the world for their identification when they enter the Schengen zone. Germany is broadly discussing reconstruction of the practice of keeping information on all telephone calls for 6 months. The initiative is being rejected by the Socialists.

The Paris terrorist attacks could become a milestone in the development of the anti-Islamic movement PEGIDA, which announced itself at the end of the last year. The movement of “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of Europe” (all political forces which are represented in Bundestag stand against the movement) has gained a new impetus and serious propaganda advantages. The fact that a trader of the kosher shop, who hid his customers from the terrorist, was a Muslim is not interesting for German anti-Islamic circles, as well as the fact that one of the French policemen who was killed by the terrorist brothers was a Muslim. Despite statements by leading politicians, including the President of France Francois Hollande, that the terrorists have nothing in common with Islam, the average European citizen perceives the situation as a mass shooting of innocent people by fanatic Islamists. Many people don’t want to know the details and trust the bright headlines in the news, which are full of such words as “Islamist” and “terrorist attack.” Leaders of the German right-wing organization PEGIDA have taken advantage of the shock and fear in European societies.

Today, January 12th, a demonstration of PEGIDA supporters will take place in various cities of Germany as a sign of solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attack in France. Dresden is tge unofficial center of the movement, as it is especially strong there. The biggest number of participants is expected there. Meanwhile, leading politicians of Germany demanded cancellation of the arrangements and accuse their initiators of taking advantage of the human tragedy. The Minister of Justice, Heiko Maas, called the behavior of the initiators “disgusting” and stated that “if they had a conscience, they would reject holding the demonstration.” The politician noted that during the last demonstration representatives of PEGIDA called the Western press liars, while today they organize a demonstration for solidarity with the “lying press.” According to him, the victims of the terrorists didn’t deserve being used by such exaggerators.

Thomas de Maizière, the Interior Minister of Germany, has the same view. Even a representative of the most right-wing party in the ruling coalition of CSU, Horst Seehofer, urged PEGIDA to postpone their meetings. Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel called on people not to join the PEGIDA movement. Actually, all the propaganda mechanisms of the parliamentary forces are working at preventing further expansion of the movement in the context of thr Paris developments.

Measures are being taken at the legislative level as well. The Leipzig court forbade participants in a local demonstration in Leipzig from using cartoons of Muhammad, considering such actions provocative. There is no information on similar restrictions in Dresden. The number of participants of PEGIDA demonstrations on January 12th will indirectly show how deeply the Paris events have influenced the attitudes of German society.