A record 18,000 people turned out Monday, January 5, for an anti-immigrant rally by a right-wing populist movement, ignoring a call by Chancellor Angela Merkel to snub such street protests. But thousands others joined counter-demonstrations in several cities against the “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident” or PEGIDA group. The group says it aims to protect “Judeo-Christian” values and urges tolerance for integrated Muslims. But opponents accuse it of thinly veiled neo-Nazi rhetoric and whipping up xenophobic sentiment in Germany. In Cologne, several public and historic buildings dimmed outdoor lights in a stand against PEGIDA.
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