Top-selling German tabloid Bild and 50 prominent Germans yesterday called for an end to what they see as rising xenophobia a day after thousands of protesters in several German cities rallied against Muslim immigration.
Monday’s rallies, organised by a new grassroots movement called PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, have become a weekly event in the eastern city of Dresden.
Some 18,000 people turned out in Dresden but similar rallies in Berlin and Cologne were heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters who accuse PEGIDA of fanning racism and intolerance.
Bild published a “No to PEGIDA” appeal on Tuesday, covering the front page and a double-page spread on pages 2 and 3, with quotes from the 50 politicians and celebrities.
“[They] are saying ‘no’ to xenophobia and ‘yes’ to diversity and tolerance,” Bild’s deputy editor, Bela Anda, wrote in a commentary. “We should not hand over our streets to hollow rallying cries.”
In Dresden, 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.” One poster in Cologne called for “potatoes rather than doner kebabs”, a swipe at ethnic Turks who at around three million represent Germany’s largest immigrant community.
Germany has some of the world’s most liberal asylum rules, partly due to its Nazi past.
The number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany, many from the Middle East, jumped to around 200,000 last year – four times as many as in 2012.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Germans to shun the anti-Muslim protesters, saying their hearts are full of hatred and arguing that hostility towards foreigners has no place in Germany.
In Cologne, home to a large Muslim population, there were 10 times as many counter-demonstrators as PEGIDA protesters. In similarly multiethnic Berlin, some 5,000 counter-demonstrators swamped around 400 anti-Muslim protesters, local police said. Cologne Cathedral and Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate switched off their lights to protest against the rallies.
PEGIDA has shaken Germany’s political establishment, which some say could help the Eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany. But the AfD, dogged by infighting, is split over how to address the movement. Bild’s campaign drew politicians, celebrities and businessmen.