Bürgerbewegung pro NRW
Bürgerbewegung pro NRW, also called simply Pro NRW, is a far-right populist political party in Germany that was founded in 2007. It claims to campaigns against the 'Islamisation' of North Rhine Westphalia.
Based in the the region's biggest city, Cologne (Köln), it emerged from Bürgerbewegung pro Köln and is part of a network of regional anti-Islam Pro Bürgerbewegung parties (Bürgerbewegung means 'citizens' movement' in English).
Contents
History
Pro NRW emerged from Bürgerbewegung pro Köln. In December 2007, Der Spiegel reported that officials feared that Pro Köln would overtake their far-right rivals, the NPD, which had traditionally sought to ally with anti-Israel Muslims.
- With their party Pro NRW [Pro North Rhine Westphalia], which has its roots in the association "Pro Koeln," the party chiefs Markus Beisicht and Manfred Rouhs are planning their leap into the North Rhine Westphalian Landtag [regional government] for 2010. In North Rhine Westphalian municipalities, almost a dozen Pro-Koeln branches have already been founded, which want to run in the 2009 municipal elections - among others, in Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, Duesseldorf, Essen, and Bottrop. Where no new mosques are planned, we concentrate on the struggle against the existing ones, Beisicht says. The Cologne far-right populists have even set their sights on the capital: in October, functionaries had mass mails distributed in Berlin against a planned mosque in Charlottenburg and just in passing founded the civil movement Pro Deutschland [Pro Germany].[1]
Activities
2008 Cologne conference
On 19-20 September 2008, Pro NRW, co-organised a 'Stop Islamisation' (Anti-Isamisierungs Kongress) in Cologne, with Pro Köln and Cities Against Islamisation.[2]
It was attended by far-right representatives from Austria, Italy and Belgium. A rally on the second day of the conference was cancelled after thousands of people took part in counter-protests. The protests also meant that less than 50 delegates were able to attend the conference on the second day.[3]
Links to HoGeSa violence
A Cologne protest carried out by members of the far-right Hooligans Against Salafists (HoGeSa) on 26 October 2014 saw members engaging in violence. The demonstration had reportedly been registered with the authorities by a member of Pro NRW.[4].
Membership
According to research carried out in 2011 by the British group Hope Not Hate, Pro NRW has around 900 members[2].
People
Affiliations
- Freedom Party (FPÖ), Austria - 'close links'
- Vlaams Belang (VB), Belgium - 'close links'[2]
Affiliations
Contact
- Website: http://pro-nrw.net/
Notes
- ↑ German far-right trying to gain support for "anti-Islam" party, Text of report by independent German news magazine Der Spiegel website on 31 December, [Report by Andrea Brandt and Guido Kleinhubert: "Playing With Fear; Cologne Radicals Want To Enter the Parliaments With the First 'Anti-Islam Party' - Constitutional Protection Officials Are Alarmed - And so Is the NPD"], BBC Monitoring Europe - Political, 31 December 2007.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bürgerbewegung pro NRW, Hope Not Hate, accessed 12 January 2015
- ↑ Richard Heister, German citizens protest against anti-Islam congress in Cologne, Agence-France Presse, 20 September 2008.
- ↑ 'Hooligan' anti-Islamist rally in Cologne turns violent, DW.de, 26 October 2014, accessed 6 January 2015
