'Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West' protest in Dresden
The square around the Cologne Cathedral was plunged into darkness on December 22, 2014 after the historical landmark in western Germany shut down its lights in a silent protest of weekly rallies in Dresden against the perceived "Islamization" of Europe.
The symbolic act came as thousands of Germans demonstrated in Cologne and several other cities against the ongoing protests by the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA, which attracted its biggest crowd yet in Dresden.
Cologne Cathedral provost Norbert Feldhoff, told n-tv that shutting down the lights was an attempt to make the PEGIDA demonstrators think twice about their protest.
"You're taking part in an action that, from its roots and also from speeches, one can see is Nazi-ist, racist and extremist," he said on n-tv. "And you're supporting people you really don't want to support."
(AP)
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