Germany: Neo-Nazi rally against Islamism and Zionism

Via i24News (h/t Anti-Racism Network):


German authorities described the demonstrators as “right-wing extremists belonging to the hooligan scene.” They also confirmed that one of the event organizers is a known far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) activist. More than 35,000 people said they would participate in the day's events via social media, but police said that only around 200-250 actually attended.


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Several Facebook events were created for the demonstration, some of them calling to “storm the Reichstag” and overthrow the government.


“The Merkel regime and the federal government need to go,” a statement for one of the events read, while another called for “1,000,000 voices against the Islamization and Americanization of Europe.”


The demonstration's official slogan was: “Together for Germany. For homeland, for freedom, and for the preservation of German culture.” On their website, the organizers declared that “we are against any radicalism and extremism. No Islamism, no Zionism, no violence.” Despite the militant comments linked to the website, security agencies emphasized they had no reason to assume the event would be anything other than peaceful.


“This is unacceptable to anyone who cares for a society free of racism, even though these statements are totally absurd,” stressed the organizers of the counter-demonstration, an alliance of the Green party, the Left, and several anti-racism organizations. Their spokeswoman, Nina Baumgartner, promised before the event that “we will do everything possible to prevent this provocation from the neo-Nazis, PEGIDA members, and supporters of reactionary conspiracy theories.”


“A neo-Nazi rally in front of the Reichstag, precisely on the 70th anniversary of the liberation from fascism, is an unreasonable demand for any freedom-loving people,” Baumgartner insisted.