Germans Thwart Anti-Islam Rally

Germans Thwart Anti-Islam Rally


IslamOnline.net & News Agencies




Protestors demonstrate with a banner reading 'Cologne' in front of a mosque in Cologne. (Reuters)
COLOGNE, Germany — Tens of thousands of Germans took to the streets of the western city of Cologne on Saturday, September 20, to protest an anti-Islam conference of European far-rightists.
"We're here to show racism the red card," Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma told the cheering crowd, reported Reuters.
He slammed the local far-right group Pro-Koeln, which is organizing an "Anti- Islamisation Congress," as "arsonists and racists" hiding under the cloak of a citizens' movement.
Carrying banners saying: "We are Cologne -- Get rid of the Nazis!," protesters gathered outside the city's cathedral to demonstrate against the congress.
Some of the protesters carried placards reading "Nazis out of Cologne" and "Temples, synagogues, churches and mosques -- everything's okay".
Most of the protests, called by trade unions, churches and anti-racist movements, saw thousands of students, families and local businessmen and women carry signs with slogans including "No to Racism" and "Cologne is rebelling!"
They disrupted the Pro-Koeln congress, ensuring less than 50 delegates were able to return to the meeting on Saturday morning.
The two-day congress, opened on Friday, brought together 150 far-right politicians and publicists from across Europe to protest Muslim presence in Europe.
Victory
Around 150 bars in Cologne stopped selling Pro-Koeln members the local Kolsch beer.
Many taxi and bus drivers were refusing to transport delegates to the congress.
One hotel even cancelled bookings made by "undesirables."
"Racists and extremists aren't welcome," stressed Mayor Schramma.
A far-right rally to protest the construction of a mosque in Cologne was also cancelled by police Saturday after clashes with opponents.
"The rally has been cancelled," said a police spokesman.
Police said 40,000 people protested against the rally, which had been expected to attract 1,500 people but only dozens showed up.
Many protestors cheered the rally ban.
"It's a victory for the city of Cologne and a victory by the democratic forces in this city," Mayor Schramma told the DPA news agency.
On Friday, several hundred opponents of the congress formed a human chain around a mosque in solidarity with the Muslim minority.
Though Islam is Europe's second religion, European Muslims are facing campaigns from far-right groups to have stately mosques on claims that they are signs of the "Islamization" of Europe.
Armin Laschet, minister for minorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper it was the first time an entire German city "stood up to protect its Muslims."
Germany is home to some 3.2 million Muslims, Europe's second-biggest Muslim population after France.

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