LEGIDA
LEGIDA is the Leipzig off-shoot of the Dresden-based anti-Islam movement PEGIDA, a German acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West.
According to some sources it is 'more radical' than the original movement. The BBC has reported that short-lived PEGIDA leader Kathrin Oertel attempted to distance her group from the Leipzig branch.[1]
LEGIDA was reportedly holding its own demonstrations, for example on 21 January 2015, a Wednesay, rather than the Monday evenings favoured by PEGIDA. A total of 100,000 people were expected to be involved in protests and counter-protests combined.
However, town officials have banned LEGIDA from using the same route historically taken by anti-communist dissidents in 1989, protests which ultimately led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. According to The Guardian, former dissidents were angry at the street movement's use of the slogan “Wir sind das Volk” or “We are the people”, that was chanted 25 years ago.[2]
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ Jenny Hill, Germany Pegida: Leader Kathrin Oertel quits protest group, BBC News, 28 January 2015
- ↑ Germany’s Pegida leader steps down over Adolf Hitler photo, Guardian, 21 January 2015
