Protesters flooded the streets of the German city of Leipzig Wednesday night as those attending an "anti-Islamization" rally faced off with crowds of counter-demonstrators who oppose the country's growing far-right movement.
The rally was organized by a group called Legida, an offshoot of the German right-wing group Pegida, which takes issue with the supposed "Islamization of Europe" and has gained momentum in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month.
While police had expected as many as 100,000 people to turn out for the protest,
Thousands of police officers reportedly separated the two sets of demonstrators for much of the rally, but authorities told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that violence broke out between the two camps near the end of the demonstration as firecrackers and bottles were thrown. There were also reports of Legida supporters attacking journalists.
Overwhelming police presence separating #legida protesters and counter-demonstrators shouting "Nazis raus!" pic.twitter.com/s3UdYImLPT— Andrew Curry (@spoke32) January 21, 2015
Apparently the largest police presence in Leipzig history (including 1989). Even the city councillors aren't getting through #nolegida— Matthijs Krul (@McCaineNL) January 21, 2015
Pegida drew a record 25,000 people at a similar rally in Dresden last week. But thousands more gathered to oppose the group in Dresden and several other cities across Germany.
Dresden police put out a blanket ban on all Pegida marches on Monday after a death threat was made against the group's leader.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German leaders have repeatedly spoken out against the group and advocated for tolerance. In a speech last week, Merkel said "hatred, racism and extremism have no place in this country." In the wake of the massive Pegida protest on Monday, Merkel attended a pro-tolerance rally organized by Muslim groups in Berlin.
Pegida, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, has been gaining support since last fall as asylum-seekers have poured into the country from war-torn Syria. The group opposes the influx of minority immigrants into Germany and argues for the protection of the country's Judeo-Christian culture. Legida is a Leipzig-based affiliate of the group.
The rally comes the same day as Pegida's leader Lutz Bachmann stepped down from his post after public backlash over a photo of him posing as Adolph Hitler and racist and xenophobic comments from his Facebook page that went viral. Bachmann, who has made efforts to allay accusations that his group is racist, claimed that he was impersonating the Nazi leader as "a joke."
Photo of Pegida leader styled as Adolf Hitler goes viral http://t.co/61h30iuRH2 pic.twitter.com/F7lawCAY4t— The Guardian (@guardian) January 21, 2015