Landmark German cathedral switched off its lights on Monday evening to protest an anti-Muslim rallying. The move aims to show dismay at growing movement under the banner of Pegida, or “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West”.
Thousands of marchers have demonstrated in Dresden in recent weeks against what they say is the “Islamisation” of the country by Muslim immigrants
But critics have accused the demonstrators of racism and xenophobia. Mrs Merkel, the Chancellor, used her New Year’s address to urge Germans: “Do not follow those who have called the rallies. Because all too often they have prejudice, coldness, even hatred in their hearts.”
“The High Cathedral will not be a backdrop for this demonstration,” Cologne Cathedral Provost Norbert Feldhoff said, according to CNN. “As a highly visible protest against xenophobia, racism and exclusion, the outdoor lighting of Cologne Cathedral will therefore be turned off on January 5 for the period of the demonstration.”
“By switching off the floodlighting we want to make those on the march stop and think,” Cathedral Dean Norbert Feldhoff told Reuters. “It is a challenge: consider who you are marching alongside.”
An opinion poll on Thursday revealed that one in eight Germans would join an anti-Muslim march if Pegida organised one in their town. The concerns of German people are fueled by the numbers of asylum seekers entering Germany, which rose to about 200,000 in 2014, four times the number in 2012.