BERLIN: A day after anti-Islam protesters marched in record numbers in Dresden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government would do everything in its power to fight intolerance, calling discrimination based on religious faith “humanly reprehensible”.

Roughly 25,000 demonstrators, some carrying mocking posters of Ms Merkel in a headscarf, marched in Dresden on Monday, to demand stricter immigration rules and an end to multiculturalism in Germany, home to four million Muslims, most of Turkish origin.

Know more: Merkel says Islam "belongs to Germany" ahead of Dresden rally

The movement, called PEGIDA or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, has drawn far fewer supporters in other cities. And counter-demonstrations against racism have drawn far larger crowds.

German leader assails movement against immigrants

But the backlash against immigrants represents a major challenge for Ms Merkel. Her conservative party includes a number of prominent critics of Muslims. And members of a new right-wing party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), have allied with PEGIDA in criticising her for allowing in too many immigrants and asylum seekers.

Speaking in Berlin, Ms Merkel delivered one of her strongest repudiations of the PEGIDA movement and its sympathisers.

“What we need to do now is to use all the means at our disposal ... to combat intolerance and violence,” she said.

“To exclude groups of people because of their faith, this isn’t worthy of the free state in which we live. It isn’t compatible with our essential values. And its humanly reprehensible. Xenophobia, racism, extremism have no place here,” she added.

Her message was echoed by President Joachim Gauck, who joined Ms Merkel and religious leaders at a vigil for victims of last week’s attacks by militants in Paris that killed 17 people.

“Germany has become more diverse through immigration — religiously, culturally and mentally,” Mr Gauck, a former pastor and East German dissident, told the group of several hundred next to the Brandenburg Gate. “This diversity has made our country successful, interesting and likeable.”

Declaring in French “I am Jewish, I am Muslim”, Aiman Mazyek, head of the German Council of Muslims, said: “We stand together for a Germany that is open to the world, with a big heart, which honours freedom of opinion, of the press and of religion.” Christian and Jewish leaders also spoke on the occasion.

On Monday, Ms Merkel declared that Islam was a central part of modern German society, a comment that was plastered on the front pages of leading newspapers. But it drew criticism from a range of right-wing politicians, including members of Ms Merkel’s CDU.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2015

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