A world divided: Violent clashes break out across the globe as thousands take to the streets in anti-Islam protests Corey Charlton and Anthony Joseph
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3435093/A-world-divided-Violent-clashes-break-globe-thousands-streets-anti-Islam-protests-organised-far-right-group-PEGIDA.html
- Protesters have clashed with immigration supporters and police forces during planned far-right demonstrations
- Organised by anti-Islam group PEGIDA, cities across Europe and Australia saw thousands take to the streets
- The confrontational rallies were held in cities that included Prague, Amsterdam, Dresden, Calais and Canberra
- Former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson joined 200 supporters at a rally in Birmingham
Violent scuffles broke out across Europe today as thousands of people taking part in far-right anti-Islam protests clashed with pro-immigration groups and riot control police.
Police in Dresden, Germany, saw about 2,000 protesters at a rally organised by the group Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, making it the biggest of a coordinated series of demonstrations across European cities.
Known by its German acronym PEGIDA, the group emerged in Dresden two years ago and has become a magnet for far-right and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Nationalist groups in Europe have been galvanized by the unprecedented influx of refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East last year. Today similar, smaller PEGIDA-style protests were planned in France, Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
In the Czech capital of Prague, thousands rallied against the influx of refugees and others in support of them and opposing protesters clashed and had to be separated by police.
Martin Konvicka, a leader of the anti-Muslim movement, is calling the influx of refugees an ‘invasion’ that poses a ‘huge threat for us all’. Two other anti-migrant groups are rallying in Prague and another in the second-largest Czech city of Brno.
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.
In Birmingham, meanwhile, police said about about 200 PEGIDA supporters and 60 counter demonstrators turned out. Other demonstrations took place in Warsaw and Graz in southern Austria.
In Amsterdam, riot police have clashed with PEGIDA demonstrators as they tried to hold their first protest in the Dutch capital.
A square near Amsterdam city hall that had been earmarked for the rally had to be shut down shortly before the gathering as police and explosives experts examined what police called a ‘suspect package’.
Only about 200 PEGIDA supporters were present, where they were heckled by left-wing demonstrators who shouted: ‘Refugees are welcome, fascists are not!’
Dutch riot police detained several people as officers on horseback intervened to separate the two groups of demonstrators.
Other demonstrations took place in Warsaw, Bratislava and in Graz in southern Austria.
In nearby Calais, fighting broke out as more protesters clashed with the police during a banned demonstration. France’s Interior Ministry had tried to stop the march by members of PEGIDA.
They are particularly angry about the build up of some 5,000 refugees sleeping rough in Calais as they try to get to the UK, where they will claim asylum or disappear into the black economy.
‘This is our home – migrants get out,’ they chanted today as they gathered by the port town’s station.
A large force of CRS riot police confronted around 150 of them, as a senior officer announced on a loudspeaker that all were banned from demonstrating.
This led to fighting, and by 2pm at least 12 arrests had been made, mainly for public order offences and criminal damage.
Baton charges and tear gas were used by the police to restore order and counter demonstrators shouted insults at the PEGIDA members.
‘We have succeeded in keeping the two sides apart, and are trying to disperse the PEGIDA demonstrators using buses,’ said an officer at the scene.
PEGIDA, which was founded in Germany in 2014, had announced today’s march during the week, but the French government decided it was too big a threat to public order to go ahead.
The State of Emergency in France, triggered by last year’s terrorist attacks on Paris, allows politicians and police to ban any public gatherings that they consider to be a security threat.
Bernard Cazeneuve, France’s Interior Ministry, said the ban was also there to protect people from ‘all groups that create tensions, division and violence.’
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