- Title: Anti-Islam movement PEGIDA demands Merkel to resign
- Date: 3rd October 2016
- Summary: DRESDEN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 3, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS PROFANITY*** TOP SHOT OF PEGIDA RALLY AND PAN TO GERMAN FLAGS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING PLACARD, READING (German) 'MRS. MERKEL, RESIGN WITH YOUR HEAD HELD HIGH - BEFORE YOU WILL BE SEND INTO THE WILDERNESS (DESERT) AND COUNT SANDKERNELS' PEGIDA COFOUNDER SIEGFRIED DAEBRITZ, SPEAKING ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (German) PEGIDA COFOUNDER SIEGFRIED DAEBRITZ, SAYING: "This woman (German chancellor Angela Merkel), this woman and her entire team Merkel, they have to go. And we can only do that through the street." UMBRELLA IN GERMAN NATIONAL COLOURS AND PAN TO DEMONSTRATORS WOMAN WITH SMALL GERMAN FLAG VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS AT RALLY UNDER UMBRELLAS VARIOUS OF POLICE GATHERED RIGHT-WING SUPPORTERS WITH GERMAN FLAG MARCHING PROTESTERS WITH PLACARD SHOWING 'RHOMBUS' (TYPICAL HAND POSTURE OF MERKEL) AND READING (German) 'RHOMBUS OF HORROR' RIGHT-WING SUPPORTERS SIGN SHOWING CARNIVAL FLOAT DEPICTING MERKEL FIGURE IN BEHIND OF U.S. FIGURE / ON OTHER SIDE IMAGE OF SMILING MERKEL AND GUN, READING (German) 'WE COME IN PEACE' VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS WITH PLACARDS AND FLAGS VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS WITH BANNER, READING (German) 'NON-VIOLENT AND UNITED AGAINST RELIGIOUS WARS ON GERMAN SOIL - PEGIDA' / CHANTING 'WE ARE THE PEOPLE' DEMONSTRATORS SHOUTING 'LYING PRESS' COUNTER-DEMONSTRATORS STANDING ON SIDELINES OF MARCH, SHOUTING (German) 'PEGIDA - RACIST SCUM, WE ARE FED UP WITH YOU, YOU MADE US VOMIT' VARIOUS OF PEGIDA SUPPORTERS MARCHING / PAN TO COUNTER-DEMONSTRATORS STANDING ON SIDELINES OF MARCH, SHOUTING 'NAZIS GO HOME' POLICE CAR AND PEDIGA SUPPORTERS, SHOUTING (German) 'MERKEL HAS TO GO' COUNTER-DEMONSTRATORS STANDING ON SIDELINES OF MARCH, SHOUTING (English) 'SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT CLEAR, REFUGEES ARE WELCOME HERE' COUNTER-DEMONSTRATORS STANDING ON SIDELINES OF MARCH, HOLDING UP BAG WITH WRITING (German) ' PEOPLE WHO SPEAK OF FLOOD OF ASYLUM SEEKER, HAVE LOW TIDE IN THEIR BRAINS'
- Embargoed: 18th October 2016 17:10
- Keywords: Germany right-wing PEGIDA
- Location: DRESDEN, GERMANY
- City: DRESDEN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00152G8213
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: ==EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: VULGAR SIGN IN SHOT 12, VULGAR LANGUAGE IN SHOT 16==
Several hundred protesters of the German anti-Islam PEGIDA or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, movement gathered on Monday (October 3) in the German southern city of Dresden to demonstrate against the influx of migrants into Europe and immigration, on the day Germany celebrated 26 years since Germany's reunification.
The protesters shouted 'Merkel must go' and 'We are the people', the slogan East Germans chanted during the peaceful revolution in November 1989, and were holding up banners depicting Merkel as a puppet of the U.S.
PEGIDA cofounder Siegfried Daebritz voiced their demand: "This woman (German chancellor Angela Merkel), this woman and her entire team Merkel, they have to go. And we can only do that through the street."
The PEGIDA supporters were met by counter-demonstrators on the sidelines, shouting back at them to go home and calling them 'Nazi scum'.
PEGIDA almost fizzled out earlier this year when its leader resigned after a photo was published of him posing as Hitler.
But it has swelled again as Germany implements Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to accept a tide of refugees that could exceed a million this year, as she argues that Germany can not only cope but, with its aging population, will benefit in the long term.
Earlier protesters jeered at German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday as she attended celebrations in the eastern city of Dresden to mark 26 years since Germany's reunification.
Holding placards reading "Merkel must go", right-wing protesters also shouted the slogan as Merkel, who has faced criticism for her open-door refugee policy, and President Joachim Gauck arrived for the celebrations and greeted spectators.
German media estimated the number of protesters at "several hundred".
Dresden was the cradle of the anti-Islam PEGIDA grassroots movement, whose weekly rallies attracted around 20,000 supporters at their height at the start of 2015.
On Saturday (October 1), three police cars were set alight by unknown perpetrators in the city. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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