In the face of massive anti-Islam protests organized by Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), Germany will witness a major counter-demonstration on Jan. 5 to protest widespread hatred toward Muslims in German society, which has a long history of fear of foreigners, dating back to the Nazi regime’s extermination of the Jewish community. Since then, neo-Nazi movements have led ongoing discriminatory practices and violent attacks against immigrants.

At least 13 nongovernmental organizations of Muslim and ethnic Turkish immigrants in Germany released a joint declarations stating that they would give significant support to the upcoming demonstration against PEGIDA, while calling for other organizations to join the counter-protest in Cologne. “We are calling on all citizens to join the demonstration in Cologne on Jan. 5 and take a stance against racism, xenophobia, hatred against foreigners and hostility against Islam,” the organizations said in a joint statement, as reported by Anadolu Agency. “We will support all democratic initiatives and allies that oppose PEGIDA and other groups inspired by it,” the statement added.

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One of Germany’s most famous landmarks, Cologne Cathedral, will be plunged into darkness on Monday evening in protest at a march by a growing grass-roots anti-Muslim movement through the western German city, cathedral authorities said.

The rise of the group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), has shaken Germany’s political establishment, prompting Chancellor Angela Merkel to say in her New Year address that its leaders were racists full of hatred and citizens should beware being used.

PEGIDA’s last weekly rally in the eastern city of Dresden attracted some 17,000 people, and the movement plans further marches in other cities, including through the center of Cologne on Monday night with a rally by the cathedral.

“PEGIDA is made up of an astonishingly broad mix of people, ranging from those in the middle of society to racists and the extreme right-wing,” Cathedral Dean Norbert Feldhoff told Reuters.

“By switching off the floodlighting we want to make those on the march stop and think. It is a challenge: consider who you are marching alongside.”

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Angela Merkel urged Germans yesterday to reject a growing anti-Islam protest movement, warning that its leaders had “hatred in their hearts”.

The chancellor showed the deep concern among Berlin’s political establishment at the weekly marches through Dresden organised by Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West). The movement is spreading to other German cities.

Her strongly worded address, broadcast on national television last night, criticised Russia for its actions in Ukraine and called for Germans to welcome refugees from the war in Syria.

The Pegida movement in the eastern city of Dresden began in October with a few hundred demonstrators, but 17,000 people turned out on ten days ago for the latest Monday night march. It has adopted a slogan used before the fall of the Iron Curtain against the repressive communist regime of East Germany.

“Today many people are again shouting on Mondays, ‘We are the people’. But in fact they mean, You do not belong – because of the colour of your skin or your religion,” Mrs Merkel said in her message. “So I say to everyone who goes to such demonstrations: do not follow those who are appealing to you. Because too often there is prejudice, coldness, even hatred in their hearts.”

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Turkish and Islamic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) based in Germany, which hosts one of the largest populations of Muslim immigrants in Europe, have harshly condemned anti-Islam demonstrations held under the guise of patriotism in eastern Germany.

Criticizing populist German politicians as well as the German media, representatives of the NGOs stated that the prejudicial attitudes and behavior of political figures and media led to the creation of racist groups such as Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida).

“While populist politicians have for years approached their Muslim minorities in an extremely prejudiced way, the German media, with their Islamophobic headlines, have paved the way for Islamophobia,” said European-Turkish Islam Union (ATİB) chief İhsan Öner.

According to German media reports, Pegida grew out of a social media group and now comprises at least 17,000 people who have gathered regularly since early December in Dresden, the birthplace of the movement, to protest against Islam, incoming Muslim immigrants and what they call “religious extremism.”

Every Monday at 6 p.m., tens of thousands of people assemble in Dresden, a city in eastern Germany, and chant slogans against Islam, Muslim immigrants and the Islamization of the country and of Europe. The group’s Facebook page has nearly 95,000 followers. The latest rally took place on Dec. 29 and the next one is scheduled to take place on Jan. 5, 2015.

Calling for an end to the political bias and media reports that are fueling anti-Muslim sentiments and thus leading to the formation of racist groups such as Pegida within German society, NGOs such as the European-Turkish Islamic Union (ATİB), the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD), the Federation of Democratic Workers Associations (DİDF) and the Islamic Society of National Vision (IGMG) said Germany can do better in its attempts to fight racism and discrimination.

ATİB General Director Öner believes these anti-İslamic movements and behavior have increased. “We are concerned as to our future as a Muslim minority in this country,” he said.

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A Turkish community leader in Germany warned Sunday against proposals by mainstream politicians for “dialogue” with a far-right populist movement that has drawn thousands to anti-Islamic street protests.

Several ministers and lawmakers have argued the government must listen to the fears about immigration voiced by the so-called “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident” or PEGIDA.

The chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, Safter Cinar, warned that seeking to understand PEGIDA was dangerous and that xenophobia and racism must remain taboo, the newspaper Tagesspiegel reported.

“What kind of dialogue are we talking about?” he said about the movement which drew a record 17,500 marchers in the eastern city of Dresden last Monday. “Should we tell the demonstrators that Muslims are human beings too?”

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