Germany: Iconic Lights Go Out Across Nation To Protest Anti-Islam Movement

---

In most cities across the country, PEGIDA was reportedly outnumbered by counter-demonstrations as Germans called for peace and tolerance, the Telegraph reports.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit:  The Huffington Post
By Carol Kuruvilla | January 6, 2015

Refusing to become backdrops for hate, famous landmarks across Germany went dark on Monday in protest of a growing anti-Muslim movement.

The Cologne Cathedral, Berlin’s Brandenberg Gate, and the city's TV tower were among the iconic structures that plunged into darkness after word spread that the anti-immigrant group “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West” (PEGIDA) was planning to march.

In most cities across the country, PEGIDA was reportedly outnumbered by counter-demonstrations as Germans called for peace and tolerance, the Telegraph reports.

Cologne Cathedral's Provost Norbert Feldhoff said that his church was following the example put forward by the Semper Opera House in Dresden. Authorities there turned the lights off to protest a anti-Islam march in December.

"The High Cathedral will not be a backdrop for this demonstration," Feldhoff said on Facebook, according to a CNN translation. "As a highly visible protest against xenophobia, racism and exclusion, the outdoor lighting of Cologne Cathedral will therefore be turned off on January 5 for the period of the demonstration."

In Berlin, the BBC’s Damien McGuinness said that he saw thousands of supporters of immigrants face off against PEGIDA.

“As I was standing there, the lights which usually illuminate the Brandenburg Gates suddenly went out, a big cheer went up from the crowd,” McGuinness said on the BBC’s Global News podcast.

[ more ... ]



Read original post here: Iconic Lights Go Out Across Germany To Protest Anti-Islam Movement


This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times.