BERLIN
Germany’s political leaders have called on citizens not to participate at anti-Islam rallies being organized in the country by the far-right Patriotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West, hours before tens of thousands of the movement's followers were set to stage a major rally in Leipzig.
Organizers said more than 30,000 protestors are expected to attend the rally on Wednesday night.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere sharply criticized PEGIDA for its anti-Islam and anti-immigration rhetoric, during a press conference on Wednesday at the Federal Press Centre.
“One should not go after such people,” de Maiziere said, and called on citizens not to attend protests organized by the far-right populist movement.
Counter demonstrations
The conservative politician also ruled out holding dialogue with PEGIDA's leaders.
“Germany has become a country which has a great variety of people, cultures and religions, compared with the old West Germany or the old communist East Germany,” he said.
Political parties and leftist groups announced they would organize demonstrations around Leipzig on Wednesday night to protest against the PEGIDA rally.
Germany’s President Joachim Gauck also criticized the movement during an address to a group of intellectuals at the Presidential Palace and warned against further polarization in German society.
Gauck said: "Polarization, which sometimes also leads to extremism and violence, undermines the peace and thus is an essential foundation of our democracy.
"Polarization undermines trust among our citizens and weakens what made our country stable and predictable."
'Terror threat'
PEGIDA recently made headlines in Germany and abroad after the group started weekly protests in Dresden in October with about 500 demonstrators, but significantly increased its support base within three months.
More than 25,000 people took to the streets in Dresden on Jan. 12 in the aftermath of the attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in which 12 people were killed.
PEGIDA has organized 12 rallies in Dresden to date.
It has cancelled a planned demonstration in Dresden last Monday due to a concrete "terrorism threat", the organizers said.
