In response to Islamophobic actions carried out by the Pegida movement (European Patriots against the Islamization of the West) in Germany, German artist Kurt Fleckenstein has placed rugs for Muslim prayer hours before a rally of the movement, to express his support for Muslims and to make a statement in favor of tolerance.
Some 176 Muslim prayer mats were spread over a large rectangle to symbolize "freedom of belief, openness and tolerance."
Pegida attended by 25,000 people at the beginning of their Islamophobic manifestations is decreasingly followed in recent weeks. On Monday, February 9, only 400 people responded to the Islamophobic Pegida event in Dresden.