SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
As thousands of people participated in anti-Islam rallies in the eastern German city of Dresden this week, other cities like Cologne and Berlin witness counter-demonstrations in support of Muslims.
According to an Al Jazeera report, some 18,000 people gathered in Dresden in support of a new grassroots movement called Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisization of the Occident (PEGIDA) against higher levels of immigration and the Islamization of the West in recent months.
The PEGIDA protesters waved Germany’s black, red and gold flag and brandished posters bearing slogans such as “Against religious fanaticism and every kind of radicalism”.
However, PEGIDA rallies in Berlin and the western city of Cologne were heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters who accused the body of fanning racism and intolerance.
In solidarity with the demonstrations against PEGIDA, businesses, churches and Cologne’s power company planned to keep buildings and other facilities dark.
The Telegraph reported that authorities switched off the floodlights at the famous Brandenburg Gate in a mark of disapproval.
The report also said that the lights were extinguished at the city’s iconic TV Tower, as part of a coordinated campaign by opponents of the protests to greet them with darkness wherever they tried to gather.
In Cologne, where protesters were also heavily outnumbered, the floodlights were switched off at the cathedral that is Germany’s most visited tourist attraction, and on the bridges across the river Rhine.
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