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Low turnout as 200 protesters
gather at industrial estate as similar rallies take place across EuropeSupporters of the anti-Islam group Pegida staged a silent march in Birmingham standing against what they called “the most dreadful, subversive, violent ideology” as clashes broke out at twin rallies in France and the
Netherlands.
About 200 demonstrators gathered for the inaugural Pegida rally in the UK – half as many as expected by police – which took place on an industrial estate miles from the city centre.
The rally appeared to pass without incident as dozens of riot police kept Pegida supporters away from about 60 anti-fascism activists at Birmingham International rail station.
West Midlands police said they made one arrest – at the anti-fascism counter demonstration for a public order offence – during the Birmingham rally, one of 14 expected to take place around Europe on Saturday.
Tommy Robinson, the former EDL leader who organised the Pegida UK
rally, said after the march there had been “no racism, no inciting hatred, no violence, no thugs, no hooligans. This is a movement you can support”.
However, lecturer Paul Kohler, who was savagely beaten by Polish
burglars who broke into his west London home last year, was at the demonstration for a Channel 4 News programme and said he was depressed by the views of those on the march.
“I was drawn into the immigration debate and I wanted to come and see these people, hear their arguments and confront them,” he said. “It’s been sadly depressing. It’s lived up to all my worst fears.”
Many demonstrators held placards featuring Donald Trump, saying: “Trump is right” – a possible reference to the Republican candidate for the US presidential election’s controversial call for a halt on Muslim immigration to the US.
Others bore placards with an image of Islamic State fighter Mohammed Emwazi, the British man known as Jihadi John, saying: “Cultural enrichment?” Another poster said: “Rape culture is being imported.”
Addressing a crowd of about 150 Pegida supporters, Robinson said: “As we set off at 2pm, people set off in Germany, in Holland, in Bulgaria, in the Czech Republic, in Belgium, in Poland. Our opposition will say you achieved nothing today – the whole of Europe is talking about this debate right now thanks to every single person in Europe that’s taken part in it.”
Robinson said on Friday night he met a man with a swastika tattoo on his finger who said he was going to the Pegida UK march. “Six years on and I’m still having to tell you: if you’re a Nazi, if you’re a racist, and you’re watching this – you’re not welcome on the streets in the UK with us,” he said to cheers.
He denied suggestions Pegida had been forced by police to protest in an empty industrial estate, claiming he selected the venue: “It’s sad that we have to come into the middle of nowhere to make sure we can show ourselves for what we are, to make sure that bottles and bricks are not raining in on top of us.”
Addressing the lower-than-expected turnout, he added: “Mark my words, many people today have sat on the fence; they want to see what happens. Let them know what’s happened: we met up, we were civilised, we walked in complete silence, we held speeches, we exercised our freedom of speech, we showed solidarity across Europe and then we went home – that’s all that happened.”
Paul Weston, the failed Ukip candidate who was unveiled by Robinson in January as the Pegida UK leader, described radical Islam as “Nazism incarnate” in a speech at the end of the march. “We’re called far-right because we dare to criticise Islam,” he said. “We’re called fascists and Nazis. But if you look at the ideology of Islam and you look at the ideology of Nazism, they are exactly the same side of the coin,” he said.
Weston claimed there were thousands of mosques in the UK promoting “the most dreadful, subversive, violent ideology” to young children.
Robinson announced that Pegida UK would stage further demonstrations in Birmingham – a city he has previously labelled the terrorist epicentre of Britain – on the first Saturday of every month starting in April.
Some Pegida supporters, however, expressed disappointment at the size of the turnout. Standing with his 17-year-old daughter Robyn, Trevor MacDivitt, 54, said he hoped for crowds of 10,000 to mirror the Pegida movement in Germany, where it started in 2014.
“Maybe I’m naive, [but] this is disappointing,” he said before the march began. “I’m sure each one of us knows 100 people who would have come along but this is embarrassing really.”
Asked why he sympathised with Pegida, the plastics worker from Dudley said: “Nothing against foreign people. We feel there’s no place in Europe for Islam. You don’t know who you can and can’t trust. You don’t know what’s going on in mosques, you don’t know what’s going on in schools.”
Gordon Millar, 55, said he spent £100 on return flights from Belfast to attend his first demonstration – even though he was in two minds about whether to come because it might turn violent. “I don’t want to be here,” he said. “I’d rather hide away in the shed and ignore the problem. I really do believe Islam is incompatible with civilised society and there’s trouble brewing.”
Twin demonstrations turned ugly in both Calais and Amsterdam. French police fired tear gas after about 150 anti-migrant protesters defied a ban and rallied in support of the Europe-wide Pegida movement, while in Amsterdam, a square near the city hall that had been earmarked for the demonstration had to be shut down shortly before the gathering as explosives experts examined what Dutch police called a “suspect package”.
Only about 200 Pegida supporters were present in the Dutch city, outnumbered by police and leftwing demonstrators who shouted: “Refugees are welcome, fascists are not.” Dutch riot police detained several people as officers on horseback intervened to separate the two groups.
Source The Guardian
