Last
December an anti-Muslim march was held in Dresden, eastern Germany.
There were 17.000 people, a huge participation for a city where there
isn’t a large number of Muslims. This initiative was promoted by
the Pegida movement, which was born in October and it opposes to the
Islamization of the West.
The
phenomenon gradually spread in Germany. According to a recent opinion
poll 1 in 8 German would join the march if Pegida organized one in
their city. And though many people consider the worries of the
movement too exaggerated, about a 29% of German people admit that the
influence of Islam is strong and someone give a justification for the
movement.
On
the other side there were also attitudes of hostility towards this
movement . The Cologne Chattedral switch off its light against the anti-Muslim movement. The dean of the cathedral said: “By
switching off the floodlighting we want to make those on the march
stop and think. It is a challenge: consider who you are marching
alongside.” The same initiative was adopted by Dresden’s
Semperoper opera house.
The
problem is particularly complex for the increase of immigrants from
the Middle East, because of the war in Syria and Palestine. To get
away from its Nazi past Germany adopted very liberal rules about
asylum. The result is a huge increase of request of asylum and social
and political tensions. Protesters accuse Merkel government of not
being firm enough, the government instead condemns the leaders of the
movement as extremists.
These
tensions involve many other European countries such as England,
France, Sweden, Netherlands. In Sweden there have been many acts of
violence and vandalisms against Mosques. This combined with a
recovery of the neo-Nazi party produces a situation of fear and
instability.
The
problem doesn't have a solution at the moment. The government
doesn’t want to consider the movement but aside xenophobia a
problem exists and is perceived by the population.
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