Thread: Thousands march in anti-Islam Pegida rallies across Europe

Dresden (Germany) (AFP) - 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, which flows through the city, to protest against mass immigration and the "Islamisation" of Europe.

- 'No place for Nazis' -

Absent was Lutz Bachmann, the movement's founder, owing to illness, organisers said.

Police, who deployed around 1,000 officers for the occasion at which an AFP reporter said several thousand had answered the rallying call an hour after the event began at 1400 GMT.

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 migrants 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 including "no place for Nazis" and "we don't need xenophobia, demagoguery or Pegida."

Pegida supporters counter that they are "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.

In Dublin, scuffles broke out between people who had gathered to protest against the launch of Pegida in Ireland, and those who attended the launch of the group.

- 'People are afraid' -

In Amsterdam, rival groups numbering a few hundred each waved banners with slogans such as "Refugees Welcome" and "Islamists not Welcome".

"We are demonstrating because we are very worried about our country and Islam," said 51-year-old Yvette from Utrecht, who carried a white banner saying "Pegida is Love" in Dutch.

"People are afraid, you must understand," she said.

The two sides were kept apart by dozens of mounted and riot police while a military helicopter hovered overhead.

An AFP reporter witnessed at least a dozen arrests and mounted police charging the crowd to separate the rival groups.

Anti-Pegida demonstrator Tommy Morelli, 32, told AFP: "I cannot believe that these guys (pro-Pegida supporters) can still think the way they do in this day and age. It's shameful."

In Birmingham in central England, meanwhile, police said about about 150 Pegida supporters and 60 counter-demonstrators turned out.

Other demonstrations took place in Warsaw, Bratislava, the French city of Montpellier and Graz in southern Austria.

Thousands march in anti-Islam Pegida rallies across Europe


Anti-Islam groups rally across Europe - The Local


Anti-Islam movement PEGIDA stages protests across Europe | Reuters

Clashes in Calais as anti-migrant Pegida calls for protests across Europe

Anti-migrant protesters in the French port city of Calais Saturday clashed with police as they defied a ban and rallied in support of a Europe-wide initiative by the Islamophobic Pegida movement.

Around 150 protesters gathered in central Calais carrying signs such as “This is our home,” waving the French flag and singing the French national anthem, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported.

Police issued warnings for the demonstration to disperse and then fired tear gas to break it up, arresting around 10 people, the correspondent said.

Calais has become a hotspot of Europe’s refugee crisis. Around 3,700 migrants are living in a camp on the outskirts of the city, nicknamed the “Jungle”, hoping to smuggle themselves across the Channel to Britain on lorries or trains.

France - Clashes in Calais as anti-migrant Pegida calls for protests across Europe - France 24

20 arrests as tensions rise at Amsterdam Pegida rally

Battalions of riot police kept a protest organised by anti-Islam organisation Pegida at a standstill in Amsterdam on Saturday afternoon, as tension mounted between Pegida supporters and anti-fascist groups.

In total, some 20 people were arrested, all of whom were released by Sunday morning. The gathering coincided with similar protests organised by Pegida in several European cities on Saturday, including Dublin, London, and Prague.

The rally, originally planned to occur on a square in front of the city hall at Waterlooplein, was moved after police found a suspected explosive device at the original location.

Read more at 20 arrests as tensions rise at Amsterdam Pegida rally - DutchNews.nl

Former commander of the French Foreign Legion Christian Piquemal arrested at Pegida protest in Calais

French general, 75, who commanded the Foreign Legion is arrested at violent anti-Islam protest in Calais which he joined 'to prevent the decline of my country'

Ex-commander of the French Foreign Legion arrested in Calais

Christian Piquemal, 75, spoke during an anti-immigration protest

General Piquemal was among around a dozen of protesters arrested

A former commander of the French Foreign Legion is facing prison for protesting against the number of UK-bound refugees in Calais.

Christian Piquemal was arrested after speaking in front of supporters of Pediga, an extreme right-wing anti-immigrant movement based in Germany, during a banned protest on Saturday.

Piquemal, 75, who led the legendary fighting force between 1994 and 1999, said he wanted to prevent ‘the decline of my country’ during the protest in the French port city.

Read more: Former commander of the French Foreign Legion Christian Piquemal arrested at Pegida protest in Calais | Daily Mail Online

French police union files complaint against Calais after RT video of general’s arrest

The French National Municipal Police Professional Union (SDPM) has filed a complaint over the actions of the Calais local authorities after the publication of an RT video showing the arrest of General Christian Piquemal during PEGIDA’s rally on Saturday.

The SDPM filed a protest over the unlawful deployment of Calais municipal police during the anti-immigrant demonstration in the city on Saturday. The unsanctioned rally was organized by the PEGIDA movement and ended up in clashes between protesters and police officers.

“One can see a municipal police officer wearing a regulation uniform and carrying law enforcement equipment against the background of a moving crowd,” a statement published on the SDPM official website says, referring to a video uploaded to YouTube by RT France.

The union stressed the law “particularly prohibits” assigning municipal police officers on law enforcement missions, which “are substantially different from maintaining public order” during peaceful gatherings such as street markets or fairs.

“Taking into account that municipal police officers should not take part in operations they are not trained for, SDPM has decided to take legal action,” the statement says adding, “the mayor of Calais will have to explain this.”

The union also said that should this be confirmed, it would mean the municipal officers were put in danger - something the SDPM “strongly condemns.”

Regular News Updates - French police union files complaint against Calais after RT video of general’s arrest

French Gov't 'Behind Arrest' of Former Foreign Legion Chief at Calais Rally

The French government is responsible for the arrest of a 75-year-old former commander of the Foreign Legion who protested against the republic’s Islamisation, a retired general turned activist told Sputnik France on Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French Gen. Christian Piquemal was detained on Saturday for allegedly co-organizing an illegal Pegida rally in the northern French city of Calais, home to a huge camp of mostly African migrants. He was reportedly released on bail earlier today, pending a court hearing in May.

"This was not a reaction of local authorities – the government is behind it [the arrest]," former French Army Gen. Didier Tauzin claimed.

Tauzin, who has been critical of the French government over its military involvement in Rwanda in the 1990s, said that French authorities were not legitimate anymore.

"What we see today in France is uproar over migrants and the government, its inaction on immigration, and many other issues," Gen. Tauzin said, adding he was one of the first generals to confront the government over its policies.

Gen. Tauzin warned that France faced serious threats to its national security, including its national unity, and even risked ethnic and religious wars in its territory. He said he planned to run for presidency in 2017 to change this.

Gen. Piquemal was arrested in central Calais together with 20 other participants as they were waving national flags and signing the national anthem. Skirmishes erupted when police moved in to break up the unsanctioned protest.

Read more: French Gov't 'Behind Arrest' of Former Foreign Legion Chief at Calais Rally

It is important for us Americans to keep abreast of what muslim immigration does to Christian nations and its citizens as our gov't has/is importing hundreds of thousands of them, so be prewarned with legitimate knowledge.

The more muslims, the more radical belligerent, ungrateful behaviour is displayed - then sharia law, telling women that are strangers on the street how to dress. How dare you screwed up mental cases, keep you obnoxiousness to yourself or get out!



February 6, 2016 By Peter Johns
VIDEO: Protestors March Against Islam Across Europe. In UK Carry Signs: “TRUMP IS RIGHT”


In the UK, across Europe and as far away as Australia, protestors marched in unison in opposition to the Islamization of the west.


In Birmingham in the UK, marches carried signs stating “Trump Is Right” acknowledging the proposed plan of the U.S. Republican presidential candidate to ban the influx or Muslim refugees until a reliable vetting program is in place.


The international rally was organized by the group: PEGIDA – Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, which was founded in Germany and has many branches across Europe and elsewhere.


From Dresden, Germany to Calais, in northern France to Canberra, Australia to Dublin, Ireland to Warsaw, Bratislava to Graz, Austria to Amsterdam, Holland to Prague and Brno, Czech Republic to Birmingham, United Kingdom the message was delivered loud and clear by tens of thousands of citizens to halt the Islamization of their countries and that the unprecedented influx of refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East has reached the breaking point.


In Prague, the leader of the anti-Muslim movement there, Martin Konvicka called the influx of refugees an “invasion” that posed a “huge threat for us all.”


In Birmingham, UK, the former English Defence League (EDL) leader, Tommy Robinson, gave a speech in front of a group holding a banner which read: “Protect freedom. Reject hate.” Robinson spoke about the movement and its intent:

“We are ordinary people, we are opposed to the Islamization of not just our country but the rest of Europe.
We are part of the European Union so it affects us, what decision Angela Merkel makes they affect us here.
We have got many different races here today, I don’t incite any hate, I oppose hate. I would like you to tell me what have I said that is hatred.
I have never been anti-immigration, my mum was an immigrant to the UK. I have never said I am either.
I am opposed to Islamization. I don’t care who comes into the country as long as they are not coming in to cause us harm.
The growing influence Islam has on society is not good for society. The more Islam, the less freedom, that is a realty.
I don’t believe that we should be bringing in last year one-and-a-half million fighting age Muslim men into Germany, 600,000 of them have gone missing, 160,000 have gone missing from Sweden.
We don’t know who they are, we don’t know what their motives are in being in Europe. We have already seen 130 people killed by so-called refugees in France.
We have a big problem. The facts are I didn’t rape 800 women, I didn’t attack 800 women. Muslims did. I didn’t rape 1,400 kids in Rotherham, it’s not my fault it happened, I just tell you it happened.
I didn’t make 360 Muslims try and commit acts of terrorism last year, I didn’t make 2,000 British Muslims go to fight for ISIS. I didn’t do that, they did it… I’m just telling the truth.”

For the most part the rallies were peaceful, although arrests were reported where scuffles broke out between PEGIDA marchers and local opponents of the movement.”
There were many placards rejecting the importation of the rape culture that has escalated dramatically with the influx of the Muslim refugees who possess a very different attitude toward women.


Many in the crowd carried signs endorsing the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, which read: “Trump Is Right.”




In Birmingham, UK, the rally and one-hour march were conducted almost without incident. Chief Superintendent from West Midlands Police, Alex Murray, said discussion and planning had been ongoing for months. “We had a large police presence on the ground, including protest liason officers, in order to deal effectively with any issues,” he said. “But we were confident the rally would be peaceful, our negotiations with Pegida representatives were positive and they stressed their intentions to express their views lawfully.”

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