AFP, Dresden :
A march by Germany’s anti-Islamic organisation Pegida drew thousands to the eastern city of Dresden on Saturday with rallies in support of the movement also held in a string of other European cities.
In Prague, around 5,000 people turned out for a Pegida-inspired march organised by two far-right groups, while in Amsterdam mounted police charged pro- and anti-Pegida groups and arrested at least a dozen people.
Another rally in the northern French port of Calais, home to the infamous “Jungle” refugee camp for migrants seeking passage across the Channel to Britain, brought about 20 arrests, local authorities said.
Police there responded with tear gas after scuffles broke out.
The Pegida group had called for the Saturday rallies, urging supporters to march under the anti-migrant banner of “Fortress Europe”.
The group began as a movement in Germany in mid-2014 and has spread to other countries as Europe grapples with its worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Several thousand Pegida supporters turned up in Dresden under clear blue skies to march along the banks of the River Elbe to protest against mass immigration and what they call the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Absent was Lutz Bachmann, the movement’s founder, owing to illness, organisers said.
Police deployed around 1,000 officers.
Many held aloft banners criticising German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in the firing line for her liberal stance towards refugees after Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers last year.
Around 2,000 people — less than the 10,000 expected by police — meanwhile joined an anti-Pegida rally at which participants urged tolerance towards migrants.
Anti-Pegida marchers chanted slogans such as “no place for Nazis” and “we don’t need xenophobia, demagoguery or Pegida”.
Pegida supporters countered that they were “European patriots against the Islamisation of the west.”
In Prague, an AFP journalist put the crowd at around 5,000 although police did not give an official estimate of the demo or its counter-rally. Police arrested four people.
A march by Germany’s anti-Islamic organisation Pegida drew thousands to the eastern city of Dresden on Saturday with rallies in support of the movement also held in a string of other European cities.
In Prague, around 5,000 people turned out for a Pegida-inspired march organised by two far-right groups, while in Amsterdam mounted police charged pro- and anti-Pegida groups and arrested at least a dozen people.
Another rally in the northern French port of Calais, home to the infamous “Jungle” refugee camp for migrants seeking passage across the Channel to Britain, brought about 20 arrests, local authorities said.
Police there responded with tear gas after scuffles broke out.
The Pegida group had called for the Saturday rallies, urging supporters to march under the anti-migrant banner of “Fortress Europe”.
The group began as a movement in Germany in mid-2014 and has spread to other countries as Europe grapples with its worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Several thousand Pegida supporters turned up in Dresden under clear blue skies to march along the banks of the River Elbe to protest against mass immigration and what they call the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Absent was Lutz Bachmann, the movement’s founder, owing to illness, organisers said.
Police deployed around 1,000 officers.
Many held aloft banners criticising German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in the firing line for her liberal stance towards refugees after Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers last year.
Around 2,000 people — less than the 10,000 expected by police — meanwhile joined an anti-Pegida rally at which participants urged tolerance towards migrants.
Anti-Pegida marchers chanted slogans such as “no place for Nazis” and “we don’t need xenophobia, demagoguery or Pegida”.
Pegida supporters countered that they were “European patriots against the Islamisation of the west.”
In Prague, an AFP journalist put the crowd at around 5,000 although police did not give an official estimate of the demo or its counter-rally. Police arrested four people.
