Last Monday anti-Islamic protests rolled down Germany, which were provoked by the terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris. As Vestnik Kavkaza has already written, the German right-wing movement PEGIDA and its numerous subsidiary organizations (such as LEGIDA in Leipzig and BÄRGIDA in Berlin) in other cities of Germany took advantage of the Paris tragedy for their propaganda interests. Leading politicians of the country criticized such behavior heavily. According to the results of the last meeting, the movement has achieved some success. In Dresden, where positions of PEGIDA are especially strong, 25 thousand people went out on the streets. Thus, the organization broke an absolute record. Last time their Dresden meeting involved 18 thousand people.
The protests in Leipzig were less successful, as only about 5 thousand people went to the streets there. Participants of the demonstration set a car on fire. It is interesting that at the same time about 30 thousand residents of Leipzig gathered at a demonstration in favor of multiculturalism in Germany, in spite of LEGIDA.
According to the police, only 400 people participated in an anti-Islamic protest in Berlin, which is traditionally multicultural. At the same time, 4 thousand Berliners participated in a demonstration directed against PEGIDA. About 20 thousand citizens went out on the streets of Munich to support German Muslims and the multiculturalism of multinational Germany with the slogan “We are against racism and any form of legal violence.”
Summing up the preliminary results of the demonstrations held in Germany (which were either directed against Muslims or were directed against anti-Islamic demonstrations), we can say that anti-Islamic tendencies in German society continue to grow. More and more people are joining PEGIDA and similar organizations all over Germany; and this is confirmed by the bigger number of participants of the demonstrations held. Active discussion of the movement in the mass media encourages the current trends. A propaganda campaign against PEGIDA in mainstream periodicals pushes people who regard critically the ruling political elite into the embraces of the new movement. In other words, subvertisement of PEGIDA in leading pro-governmental periodicals brings additional popularity to the organization among dissatisfied citizens.
At the same time, the return of mass demonstrations of supporters of multiculturalism show that the two “people’s parties” of Germany (SDPG and CDU/CSU), as well as other political forces which are represented in the parliament (the Greens and the Lefts) are mobilizing their supporters to resist the right-wing movement of PEGIDA. The activeness of the Germans at the demonstrations which were directed against anti-Islamic forces was a result of the work by parties. Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to participate in a demonstration in the center of Berlin on Tuesday. She publicly stated that Islam is a part of Germany, actually repeating a well-known thesis of the former president Christian Wulff.
The demonstrations which have taken place this week confirm that the main center of the anti-Islamic movement is in the economically unfavorable, more multinational and less tolerant eastern regions of Germany. Dresden has proved its status as an unofficial capital of the “Islamization fighters” of Europe. The latest news from Dresden: the owner of a four-star hotel, who intended to give it to the city authorities to organize a shelter for refugees, has changed his mind. The reason for this was numerous threats toward the owner by local residents.
