Dresden (dpa / sn) - The extremist and Islamophobic Pegida movement in Dresden has shown itself on the streets for the first time in months. Several hundred supporters gathered on the Neumarkt on Monday evening. Pegida boss Lutz Bachmann, who was classified as a right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, also addressed the audience briefly. The assembly of the self-proclaimed "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West" encountered resistance of almost the same strength: Mostly young people demonstrated before the start of the Pegida rally and marched through the city centre.
It was clear that Pegida "won't just run away like that," it said in the invitation to the rally. The movement last demonstrated in April of this year. In May, the Pegida leadership appealed to supporters to support the Monday protests of others. Since May 2021, Pegida has been observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony as a "proven extremist effort".
