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| Dresden police brace for march of the ‘pinstriped Nazis’ | Dresden police brace for march of the ‘pinstriped Nazis’ |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Its members have been dubbed the ‘pinstriped Nazis’ and they take pride in the law-abiding nature of their demonstrations, referring to them as “evening strolls” though German cities. But the Pegida, or ‘Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West’, a nascent anti-foreigner campaign group, is growing in stature week by week and sparking concern among German officials. | Its members have been dubbed the ‘pinstriped Nazis’ and they take pride in the law-abiding nature of their demonstrations, referring to them as “evening strolls” though German cities. But the Pegida, or ‘Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West’, a nascent anti-foreigner campaign group, is growing in stature week by week and sparking concern among German officials. |
| Thousands of police will be out in force in Dresden in the eastern German state of Saxony on Monday evening, when the Pegida takes its protest on to the streets for the ninth week in a row. Its first march, advertised on Facebook and other social media, attracted just 200 supporters. By last week the figure had risen to 10,000 and by Monday night it is estimated the group will have grown by at least another 2,000. | Thousands of police will be out in force in Dresden in the eastern German state of Saxony on Monday evening, when the Pegida takes its protest on to the streets for the ninth week in a row. Its first march, advertised on Facebook and other social media, attracted just 200 supporters. By last week the figure had risen to 10,000 and by Monday night it is estimated the group will have grown by at least another 2,000. |
| “They have a very subtle and opprobrious strategy for fomenting xenophobia,” Ralf Jäger the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia told Welt am Sontag. “We have to unmask these rabble-rousers”. | “They have a very subtle and opprobrious strategy for fomenting xenophobia,” Ralf Jäger the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia told Welt am Sontag. “We have to unmask these rabble-rousers”. |
| The chancellor, Angela Merkel, has condemned the group, saying: “There is no place in Germany for Islamophobia or antisemitism, hatred of foreigners or racism”. | The chancellor, Angela Merkel, has condemned the group, saying: “There is no place in Germany for Islamophobia or antisemitism, hatred of foreigners or racism”. |
| But the group’s growing presence has presented politicians with a dilemma over how to uncouple the strong neo-Nazi element, which is believed to form the core of the protests, from ordinary Germans with grievances against the government, who make up the bulk of the protesters. | |
| Almost two-thirds of Germans, according to a poll for news magazine Spiegel by the TNS institute, believe Merkel’s government is not doing enough to address concerns about immigration and asylum seekers, and 34% think Germany is enduring a process of “Islamisation”. | Almost two-thirds of Germans, according to a poll for news magazine Spiegel by the TNS institute, believe Merkel’s government is not doing enough to address concerns about immigration and asylum seekers, and 34% think Germany is enduring a process of “Islamisation”. |
| The protesters themselves have been advised not to speak to the media. | The protesters themselves have been advised not to speak to the media. |
| Instead, they walk through German cities, most prominently Dresden, chanting “Wir sind das Volk,” or “We are the people,” the phrase used by the demonstrators whose peaceful protests over several months in 1989 culminated in the fall of the Berlin wall. The Pegida protesters have also chosen to call their after-work rallies “Montagsdemos” or Monday demonstrations, just like those who gathered 25 years ago. | Instead, they walk through German cities, most prominently Dresden, chanting “Wir sind das Volk,” or “We are the people,” the phrase used by the demonstrators whose peaceful protests over several months in 1989 culminated in the fall of the Berlin wall. The Pegida protesters have also chosen to call their after-work rallies “Montagsdemos” or Monday demonstrations, just like those who gathered 25 years ago. |
| Associating themselves with the freedom demonstrations has given the Pegida protests a huge moral boost even though there are hundreds of rightwing extremists in their midst, as well as established groups of hooligans who are known to the police, according to Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. | Associating themselves with the freedom demonstrations has given the Pegida protests a huge moral boost even though there are hundreds of rightwing extremists in their midst, as well as established groups of hooligans who are known to the police, according to Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. |
| “The instigators are unmistakably rightwing extremists,” a spokesman said. | “The instigators are unmistakably rightwing extremists,” a spokesman said. |
| Led by Lutz Bachmann, a 41-year-old butcher’s son who runs a PR agency, The Pegida has spawned clones across Germany. Legida is the name of the Leipzig branch, Bogida the Bonn branch, while in Darmstadt it is known as Dagida. | Led by Lutz Bachmann, a 41-year-old butcher’s son who runs a PR agency, The Pegida has spawned clones across Germany. Legida is the name of the Leipzig branch, Bogida the Bonn branch, while in Darmstadt it is known as Dagida. |
| At a recent rally in Dresden, Bachmann’s hometown, he told his followers that while asylum seekers enjoyed luxury accommodation, many impoverished German pensioners were “unable to even afford a single slice of Stollen” (German Christmas cake). | At a recent rally in Dresden, Bachmann’s hometown, he told his followers that while asylum seekers enjoyed luxury accommodation, many impoverished German pensioners were “unable to even afford a single slice of Stollen” (German Christmas cake). |
| Bachmann, who has a criminal record for burglary, for which he was sentenced to over three years in prison, and a conviction for drug possession, has claimed he is an insignificant part of the Pegida. “I’m just a small cog in a much bigger wheel,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in a rare interview. | Bachmann, who has a criminal record for burglary, for which he was sentenced to over three years in prison, and a conviction for drug possession, has claimed he is an insignificant part of the Pegida. “I’m just a small cog in a much bigger wheel,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in a rare interview. |
| But political scientists have said the group’s presentation of itself as a harmless protest movement is what makes it so insidious. “Something quite new is brewing here,” said Hajo Funke, a researcher into rightwing extremism at the Free University in Berlin. “We haven’t seen rudiments like these of an extreme rightwing inspired mass movement for years”. He said even the group’s name was incendiary. “It’s nothing short of a veritable call to arms by far-right populists”, which, he said, triggered comparisons with Third Reich propaganda. | But political scientists have said the group’s presentation of itself as a harmless protest movement is what makes it so insidious. “Something quite new is brewing here,” said Hajo Funke, a researcher into rightwing extremism at the Free University in Berlin. “We haven’t seen rudiments like these of an extreme rightwing inspired mass movement for years”. He said even the group’s name was incendiary. “It’s nothing short of a veritable call to arms by far-right populists”, which, he said, triggered comparisons with Third Reich propaganda. |
| Marchers, many waving the German flag and holding banners condemning “criminal asylum seekers”, typically include hardcore neo-Nazis, as well as supporters of a small but growing anti-euro party, the Alternative for Germany. Participants are young and old, male and female, and often families with young children. If they speak to journalists, they voice their discontentment over the high cost of living and lack of employment opportunities or low wages and shrinking pensions and cite the burden on Germany of foreigners as the reason, even though foreign-born residents make up just 2.2% of the population of Saxony, and Muslim citizens just 0.4%. | Marchers, many waving the German flag and holding banners condemning “criminal asylum seekers”, typically include hardcore neo-Nazis, as well as supporters of a small but growing anti-euro party, the Alternative for Germany. Participants are young and old, male and female, and often families with young children. If they speak to journalists, they voice their discontentment over the high cost of living and lack of employment opportunities or low wages and shrinking pensions and cite the burden on Germany of foreigners as the reason, even though foreign-born residents make up just 2.2% of the population of Saxony, and Muslim citizens just 0.4%. |
| But across Germany resentment over a sharp rise in the number of refugees seeking political asylum in Germany, many from war-torn regions including Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, has grown in recent months. Last Friday, a newly refurbished home for asylum seekers in Nuremberg in southern Germany was badly damaged in an suspected xenophobic arson attack. Anti-foreigner slogans and swastikas were found daubed on the walls. | But across Germany resentment over a sharp rise in the number of refugees seeking political asylum in Germany, many from war-torn regions including Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, has grown in recent months. Last Friday, a newly refurbished home for asylum seekers in Nuremberg in southern Germany was badly damaged in an suspected xenophobic arson attack. Anti-foreigner slogans and swastikas were found daubed on the walls. |
| Organisers of a counter-demonstration in Dresden, which attracted as many supporters as Pegida last week and presented the police with the challenge of how to keep the two angry sides apart, said it planned to come out in force on Monday evening. | Organisers of a counter-demonstration in Dresden, which attracted as many supporters as Pegida last week and presented the police with the challenge of how to keep the two angry sides apart, said it planned to come out in force on Monday evening. |
| “We will show once again this Monday that despite the shadows, this city also has a very bright side. We want to send a strong signal that we’re a society that is open-minded towards the whole world,” the organisation, Dresden Stellt Sich Quer (Dresden Defends Itself), said. | “We will show once again this Monday that despite the shadows, this city also has a very bright side. We want to send a strong signal that we’re a society that is open-minded towards the whole world,” the organisation, Dresden Stellt Sich Quer (Dresden Defends Itself), said. |