Germany - Anti Muslim rallies and counter rallies

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PEGIDA anti-Islam Rally
Image of PEGIDA anti-islam rally taken from the internet (mdr.de)

I've got a quiet admiration for Germany - they seem to be a hard working, productive no nonsense type of nation that doesn't fall for the normal marketing tricks.

However recently there has been a phenomenon of large rallies taking place across Germany:

Germany PEGIDA protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation'

Supporters and opponents of a group campaigning against what it sees as the "Islamisation" of Europe have held rival rallies across Germany.

There have been weekly protests by the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida) since October.

A record 18,000 people turned out on Monday at one rally in Dresden.

But counter demonstrations have sprung up and the group has been condemned by senior German politicians.

Read more :

These seem to be part of a larger trend across Europe where anti Muslim sentiment is increasing, evidenced by the years old treatment of the headscarf etc in France and the recent arson attacks on mosques in Sweden.

Ofcourse, there have been counter demonstrations across europe, such as "love bombing" a mosque with love hearts in Sweden following an arson attack and anti racism rallies in Germany:

Demonstration against PEGIDA in Munich, December 22, 2014
Demonstration against PEGIDA in Munich, December 22, 2014 - Public Domain Image from Wikimedia Commons: