Islam - Current Day - Pegida Labelled Extremist; East Jerusalem Violence; Maldives Bombing; Turks Arrest ISIS Suspects

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German state of Saxony officially designates anti-Islam & anti-immigrant Pegida movement ‘extremist’

7 May, 2021 17:06

FILE PHOTO. ©  Reuters / Christian Mang

Germany’s security service in the eastern state of Saxony has officially classified the anti-Islam and anti-immigrant Pegida group as a “proven extremist organization.” The movement came to the fore amid the 2015 refugee crisis.

The Pegida movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident) is now officially considered an extremist organization in its own “birthplace” – Germany’s eastern federal state of Saxony. The organization first came to be in the region back in October 2014, when Europe saw a massive influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. 

The group positioned itself as a grassroots movement opposing what they called a creeping Islamization of Europe, and gained prominence due to massive rallies it organized to show its discontent with the “open-door” policy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Over the years, the group moved away from its “heterogenous” roots and “moderate demands” and instead adopted “increasingly radical and ultimately extremist” views, the regional branch of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) – a security service tasked with combating extremism – said in a statement, explaining its decision. 

“Proven far-right extremists have had a significant influence” over the movement in recent years, the security service said, adding that they acted as “organizers, speakers and managers” of Pegida events. The group also started espousing views that directly contradict German basic law, the BfV noted, adding that the movement “rejected” the rule of law and the role of the parliament.

By giving a platform to various far-right extremists, Pegida also acted as a “lynchpin” between the far-right groups and ordinary people, the head of the BfV’s regional branch in Saxony, Dirk-Martin Christian, said in a statement.

“The resulting, ever deeper penetration of far-right extremist ideas into the core of [our] society is a serious threat to our free and democratic social order in the long run,” he added.

However, “peaceful participants” of the gatherings organized by Pegida, who simply used their “basic right on the freedom of expression,” have nothing to fear, since the security service will not put them under surveillance, he assured.

Pegida has repeatedly been accused of flirting with the far-right scene in Germany. The movement’s members were also no strangers to controversy. Its founder, Lutz Bachmann, was forced to step down from his role as Pegida leader in January 2015 after a photo of him dressed as Adolf Hitler emerged online.

Over the years that passed since the refugee crisis, the movement became much less noticeable. However, it also apparently moved beyond Germany, as Pegida supporters occasionally attempted to organize rallies in various countries, including Norway, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and Belgium.

It seems like strange timing on this. The group is deteriorating and has been for some time. The movement is virtually finished, and yet, Seehofer wants to make them criminal number one. The far-left is a far more dangerous segment of society (2nd story on link), and yet you never hear the government complain about them. Has Seehofer taken responsibility for Norway, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and Belgium? 

Saxony, GDR

Car torched in East Jerusalem as clashes over

Palestinian evictions continue

7 May, 2021 12:14

A vehicle reportedly owned by a Jewish family was burnt out in East Jerusalem, where Israelis and Palestinians have been clashing over the looming eviction of several Palestinian families.

According to the Times of Israel, the groups threw rocks and chairs at each other. Palestinians reportedly set a car belonging to a Jewish family on fire, prompting a Jewish man to fire a weapon into the air. At least 15 Palestinians were arrested.

The Jerusalem Post said that fireworks were launched and rocks thrown at an office belonging to the leader of the Jewish right-wing Otzma Yehudit party.

East Jerusalem, home to both Jewish and Muslim holy sites, was captured by Israel from Jordan during the Six-Days War of 1967.

This week’s clashes erupted as a Jerusalem court is due to rule on a bitter dispute that involves four Palestinian families, which face eviction from their homes in favor of right-wing Jewish nationalists who argue that the land in the area was owned by Jewish groups before the establishment of the State of Israel. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim Jewish-owned property in East Jerusalem from before 1948.

Disputes over land ownership lie at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions, often leading to protests and violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland called the situation in Sheikh Jarrah “worrying,” and urged Israel to end evictions of Palestinians and the demolition of their homes.

Israeli media reported that left-wing groups and Arab activists from other regions are expected to protest against Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem later on Friday. Muslims will also attend the final Friday prayers of the month of Ramadan in Jerusalem’s Old City amid a heavy police presence.

Sheikh Jarrah

Bomb blast puts former Maldives president in hospital,

as he undergoes surgery to treat shrapnel wounds

7 May, 2021 11:52

Maldivian police officers inspect the area after a blast outside the family home of the speaker of parliament, former President Mohamed Nasheed, in Male, Maldives May 6, 2021. ©  Maldives Police Service / Handout via REUTERS

Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives and the current speaker of the country’s parliament, is undergoing surgery after suffering shrapnel wounds following a bomb blast outside his home on Thursday night.

The injuries were caused when a bomb attached to a motorbike detonated as he left his residence late on Thursday, with the explosion heard across the country’s capital, Male, leaving the 53-year-old with shrapnel wounds.

After he arrived at the medical facility, a spokesperson for Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party confirmed he had been injured but was “stable” amid “ongoing” surgeries.

Footage on social media showed the aftermath of the explosion, with the remains of the damaged motorbike visible and police on the scene to aid those injured.

Bystanders were seen on video providing support to individuals who were caught in the bomb blast, with one person seen on the ground with what appears to be a bandage wrapped around their leg.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion and security officials have not publicly identified a potential culprit.

A UK national is believed to have been injured in the explosion, according to local media reports, and Australian authorities have dispatched a team to the country to support the investigation.

After the explosion, the current Maldives president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was seen arriving at the ADK hospital where Nasheed was being treated, having held a cabinet meeting earlier in the day and ahead of a nationally televised address on the situation.

Speaking in the wake of the bomb blast, Solih, who is seen as a close political ally of Nasheed, called the explosion an attack on “democracy and economy”, with security being stepped up around the country’s islands.

Turkish security forces arrest 8 ISIS terror suspects in simultaneous raids

at 15 addresses

7 May, 2021 08:46

Istanbul, Turkey (FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Turkish security forces have carried out raids across the country’s largest city, arresting eight individuals in relation to suspected links to Islamic State, according to a state-run news agency.

Anadolu Agency, a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, said on Friday that at least eight individuals had been detained by police as anti-terror units simultaneously raided 15 addresses in 10 districts of Istanbul. 

Security forces told the news agency that the individuals were detained for suspected links to IS and its operations in conflict zones. The suspects remain in police custody and under investigation.

Turkey declared ISIS a terrorist organization in 2013 and has engaged in a number of operations to defeat the group, which once occupied territory close to its south-eastern border. 

They also engaged in a number of operations with the group.

The country has been attacked numerous times by people affiliated with IS. More than 300 people have died and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven incendiary attacks, and four assaults.

On Sunday, Istanbul police said they had captured the alleged military head of IS and a close aide to the group's former leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. A police statement said he had been arrested in the Atasehir district on the city’s Asian side last Wednesday. 

The man, identified only by the codename ‘Basim’, had been travelling on false passports.

Does it seem odd to you that after 15 raids only 10 people were arrested? 

If You Thought PEGIDA was Dead, Think Again, It's Only Mostly Dead

Massive PEGIDA rally in Dresden marks 2 years of anti-immigrant movement

Massive might be a bit of an overstatement. Somewhere between 5,000 and 8,500 is big but 'massive', not so much!

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Dresden to mark the second anniversary of the far-right anti-Islam German movement PEGIDA. Dresden is PEGIDA's birthplace.



Supporters gathered at Theaterplatz Square in central Dresden to protest against the refugee policy of Angela Merkel, as well as what they see as forced multiculturalism and the continued Islamization of Europe.

“You have a million foreigners every year. They don’t speak the German language, they do not accept our culture, they have very basic or no education or no professional skills,” one demonstrator told RT. “We have no use for them. We have our own German problems.”

Actually, a little fewer than a million last year and less than a third of a million this year, thanks to Mr Orban.

“We have more rapes, we have more criminality, we have more violence that we didn’t have before,” another added.

There was a heavy police presence at the scene, including armored carriers and two water cannons, as encounters between PEGIDA supporters, counter-protesters and the authorities have turned violent in the past. But the rally on Sunday was entirely trouble-free and no arrests were made.



According to German public broadcaster MDR, there were at least 5,000 people at the rally, although German statistical research group Durchgezahlt put the number as high as 6,500-8,500. Originally the demonstration was due to take place on Monday, but was moved after the city organized a street festival on that day instead.

A smaller, counter-demonstration of 130 was led by students, but police kept the two groups at a distance to maintain public order. Some counter-demonstrators claimed they were kept away from certain parts of the city due to an ‘Islamist threat’, but this was denied by the police.

Some have expressed frustration that the PEGIDA demonstration was not met by sufficient opposition.

“For PEGIDA's birthday, the Dresden authorities are rolling out the red carpet once again and making sure counter-demonstrations are nowhere to be seen or heard,” left-wing MP Andre Schollbach told Deutsche Welle.

Pegida (which stands for ‘Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West’) has been exploiting (exploiting is probably the wrong word here as it implies a means to a particular gain; PEGIDA may have some racist elements, but, I think they are mainly trying to raise the profile of a serious problem that has not really been addressed all that seriously) the anti-immigrant agenda since its emergence in Dresden in late 2014. The movement has gained popularity in Germany and overseas, holding rallies against ‘Islamization’, refugees and Angela Merkel’s open-door migrant policy. At its peak, Pegida meetings attracted some 25,000 supporters.

Anti-migrant sentiment in Germany is on the rise, with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gaining strong support at the expense of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

Anti-Immigration Party Makes Inroads into Germany's Regional Parlaiments

Germany’s anti-immigrant AfD wins enough votes

to secure seats in 3 state parliaments – exit polls

after large anti-immigration protest in Berlin

Frauke Petry, chairwoman of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD)

Exit polls in German regional elections show significant success for the right-wing AfD party, which received enough votes to get into three state legislatures. Merkel’s conservative CDU party suffered losses in two out of three state elections.

AfD  (Alternative for Germany) party secured 23.9 percent in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, making it the second largest party after the ruling CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany), which won 29.8 percent.

According to early figures from Baden-Württemberg, AfD managed to win 14.6 percent of the ballots to come in third, after the state’s ruling Green Party with the most votes, and CDU, which took second place.

Figures for Rhineland Palatinate also put AfD in the third place, while CDU lost its majority to Social-Democrats, securing only 32.4 percent against their 36.5, according to exit polls on the broadcaster ZDF.

Voting booths in all three states closed at 6 pm (17:00 GMT) on Sunday. Over 12 million Germans were eligible to vote in the regional parliamentary elections.

The results amounted to a resounding success for right-wing AfD, a party which didn’t even exist some three years ago, created in 2013 as an anti-euro movement, while Chancellor Merkel’s conservatives lost in two out of three regional state elections.

We have fundamental problems in Germany that led to this election result,” said AfD chief Frauke Petry, whose party is now to enter all three regional parliaments.

The party’s Berlin chairman, Georg Pazderski, spoke of the tasks ahead. “The results come with responsibility. There is a lot to do for us. There is a deep feeling in the German population that something is going wrong. It’s not only because of the migration crisis, it’s also because of the euro crisis and other things. People see that politics in Germany is going the wrong way and this is the main reason why we have such good results today,” he said.

In a dig at Chancellor Merkel’s open-door migration policy, the AfD campaigned under slogans like “Secure the borders” and “Stop the asylum chaos” on their way to winning representation in five of Germany’s 16 regional parliaments.

Today’s election was widely seen as the biggest electoral challenge for Chancellor Merkel ahead of next year’s general election and a test of support for her open door migrant policy.

Her party’s poor results in the regional polls could come as a setback for the Chancellor as she tries to muster all of her political clout to seal a much-debated EU deal to send migrants back to Turkey in exchange for more funding and visa-free travel.

This year’s turnout in all three states greatly exceeded that for the previous elections in 2011, being up by over 5 percent in Baden-Wuerttemberg, 9.7 percent in Rhineland-Palatinate, and 11.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt.

‘Merkel must go’: Thousands of anti-migrant demonstrators protest pro-refugee policy in Berlin

 Several thousand right-wing demonstrators marched through the streets of Berlin to protest Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy on Saturday, chanting “Merkel must go” and “We are the people.”

Nearly 3,000 protesters carrying German flags and banners took part in a demonstration against the German government’s migration policy. People gathered at Washingtonplatz next to the capital’s main train station and then moved in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate.

The event was organized by a group called “We for Berlin & We for Germany,” whose main aim is to force Merkel and her government to step down. Among other demands, the group wants an end put to the “dictatorship” of the EU and stricter border controls, while claiming that they are against radicalism, “whether religious or politically motivated.”

There were also members of PEGIDA, an anti-Islam and anti-migrant group, among the demonstrators, as well as a number of other nationalist groups and ordinary people who are unhappy with the current state of affairs in Germany.

“Merkel works against her own people. She underestimates the consequences of allowing so many people with such different backgrounds into our country,” one of the protesters told RT’s Peter Oliver.

“We are against Merkel’s policy because everyone can come here, even terrorists. You don’t even need documents and they can stay here without any control. We need to stop it,” said another demonstrator.

Oliver reported a heavy police presence in the city center.  Meanwhile, several anti-fascist groups promoting the rights of asylum seekers have promised to stage counter-demonstrations. Pro-refugee activists holding up banners reading “Nationalists must go” and “Asylum is basic right” marched along a neighboring street, which also leads to the Branderburg Gate.



The demonstrations came just a day before a key local election dubbed “Super Sunday,” which is seen as a test of Merkel’s leadership. The Chancellor’s popularity has suffered a significant decline as of late, with some media sources suggesting that her migration policy has begun to turn against her.

PEGIDA’s anti-migrant demonstrations have not always been peaceful in the past, with some ending in violent scuffles with Antifa and police.

In February, tens of thousands of people supporting the PEGIDA movement marched through cities spanning 14 European countries, including Germany, France, the UK, and the Czech Republic, among others, to protest against the flood of migrants and refugees that have flooded into the EU from the Middle East. Counter-protests, clashes with police, and arrests took place, despite the ban on some of the rallies declared by the authorities beforehand.

Dozens Arrested as Pegida Anti-migrant Marches Sweep Across Europe

Large counter marches also appeared

but there were few casualties

Supporters of the anti-Islam movement Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) hold posters depicting German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a demonstration in Dresden, Germany, February 6, 2016.
© Hannibal Hanschke / Reuters

Tens of thousands of people marched across 14 European countries in protest against the influx of Muslim migrants into the continent. In several migrant flashpoints, clashes broke out between demonstrators and police.

In Dresden, Germany, where the movement was born in October 2014, around 8,000 people gathered on the banks of the Elbe, waving the German tricolors and anti-Nazi resistance flags.

“Merkel must go!” chanted the crowd, in protest against the German chancellor, whose policies resulted in over 1 million immigrants arriving in the country in 2015.

On the side of the river, police sanctioned a mass counter-demonstration, attended by left-wing and anti-fascist activists.

Water-cannon crews take a smoke break

In Calais, the French port town, where about 3,700 migrants have set up a camp in hope of crossing to the UK, the proposed demonstration was banned by the authorities, saying the group could “create tensions, division and violence."

Nonetheless, over 150 people turned up for the unsanctioned rally, carrying banners saying: “This is our home!" and “Journalists are collaborationists!” as they sang the Marseillaise.

Police repeatedly instructed demonstrators to disperse, before deploying tear gas. As the crowd broke up, several protesters tangled with police, and about 10 were taken into custody. Among those arrested was General Christian Piquemal, the former commander of the French Foreign Legion, who had planned to address the rally.

In Birmingham, which has the highest Muslim population in the UK outside London, former leader of the far-right English Defence League Tommy Robinson led a throng of supporters on a silent march through the city center. Many carried printed placards opposing “importation of rape culture” and images of Islamic State executioner, and former UK resident Mohamed Emwazi - ‘Jihadi John’ - with the caption “Cultural enrichment.”

The protesters were matched in turnout by counter-demonstrators, one of whom was arrested by the police for disturbing public order.


In Ireland, which staged its first-ever Pegida march, demonstrators were enveloped by counter-protesters in one of Dublin’s central squares, forcing police to insert themselves between the two groups, and shut off several streets.

Pegida protesters were run off the streets of Dublin

As the much-bigger anti-Pegida crowd pushed on, chanting, “Off our streets, Nazis go!” and waving “Refugees welcome” banners, small groups of Pegida activists were forced to take refuge in shops.

At least two Pegida demonstrators sustained injuries.


People in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Estonia, whose governments have been more amenable to their electorates’ apprehension towards migrants also staged notable rallies.

In Prague, protesters gathered outside the city castle, the residence of President Milos Zeman, himself a strident critic of Muslim migration. Elsewhere in the city, a group of counter-protesters found itself ambushed by a band of masked men and pelted with bottles as it marched up a side street. No one was arrested or hospitalized, according to Czech media.

Amsterdam

Scuffles also broke out in Amsterdam, while in Switzerland and Finland small-scale protests passed without incident.

Sweden to Refugees: Find a Bed or Go Back to Germany… But Don’t Look for Them at IKEA

As Germany ‘downgrades’ Syrian refugee status

© Robert Nyholm / Reuters

Sweden’s migration minister warned refugees that if they don’t find their own accommodation, they will be deported back to Germany or Denmark. The news comes as Europe’s refugee influx had depleted IKEA’s stockpiles of beds.

The Swedish government told media on Friday that it will no longer be able to provide housing for refugees and migrants arriving in the country, despite Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson’s claims that the migration crisis is not putting “acute” pressure on public finances.

“Those who come here may be met by the message that we can’t arrange housing for them,” Migration Minister Morgan Johansson told reporters. “Either you’ll have to arrange it yourself, or you have to go back to Germany or Denmark again.”

Europe’s refugee crisis has been dubbed the worst since WWII, with tens of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and North Africa in hopes of starting a new life in Europe.

Amid the climbing number of refugees coming to Sweden, IKEA has announced that it is running extremely low on beds and mattresses in both Sweden and Germany.

“There are some shortages of bunk beds, mattresses and duvets” in several German and Swedish stores, an IKEA spokeswoman, Josefin Thorell, told Bloomberg. “If the situation persists we expect that it will be difficult to keep up and maintain sufficient supply.”

IKEA has been helping out local authorities with accommodation for refugees.

Sweden, a country of 10 million, has received 120,000 refugees and migrants so far in 2015, with another 190,000 still expected to arrive.

The Swedish Migration Agency has become so desperate that it allowed around 50 refugees to sleep on the floor in its head office on Thursday night, as it had failed to find any other accommodation for them.

Germany ‘downgrades’ Syrian refugee status

Meanwhile, Germany is also taking a step back from its welcoming policy towards refugees from Syria by striking out a law allowing the families of migrants to join them in Germany, the daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported.

The paper also revealed that the German government is scaling back on the legal protections available for newly arrived Syrians.

As a result of the policy change, each Syrian refugee can only qualify for one residence permit for up to one year, and will not have the ability to invite the rest of their immediate family to join them in Germany.

“The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has been ordered to only grant secondary protection for refugees from Syria’s civil war,” the FAZ cited an interior ministry document as saying.

Previously, Germany had given “primary protection” to refugees, including three-year residence permits and the right of family reunification.

The German and Swedish governments have been accepting towards the refugees coming to their countries so far, but their resources are running thin.

Germany, with a population of 80 million people, may receive 1.5 million asylum seekers in this year alone. It has already accepted more asylum applications than any other European nation, with a number of critics pointing to the high number of uneducated and illiterate refugees arriving in the country.

According to the latest data cited by FAZ, in August Germany received 55,600 refugee applications from Syrians, of which 38,600 were granted residency.

Germany’s population remains divided on the government’s response to help refugees, however. The right-wing PEGIDA movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident) has been growing in popularity, with activists taking to the streets of Dresden for anti-refugee demonstrations that are often met with counter-protesters, which often leads to clashes.

Serious consequences
While undoubtedly necessary, ending the right to family reunification may have some serious consequences. For one, it will greatly temper migrant's joy at arriving in Germany expediting the day when they become disenchanted and eventually angry. The other serious effect could be that family left behind in Syria may decide that they too have to make the perilous trip to freedom if they ever want to rejoin their husbands, sons, or fathers.

Germany's Migrant Crisis - The Perilous Politics and the Perplexed People

The Lonely Chancellor: Merkel Under Fire as 

Refugee Crisis Worsens

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing significant blowback
over her refugee policies.

Until recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was considered to be the most powerful politician in Europe. But now, her approach to the refugee crisis has her under fire at home and in Brussels. Can she survive? 

By SPIEGEL Staff

For almost three quarters of an hour, it was as though there was no refugee crisis in Germany. Last Monday, Angela Merkel was in Nuremberg for a town hall discussion with a specially chosen group of conservative voters. A moderator in a light-colored, summer suit directed the proceedings as Merkel chatted about everything "that is important to us."

Initially, the focus was on those things that used to be important to Germans -- up until roughly eight weeks ago. Things like vocational education, the country's school system and the difficulty German companies have in competing with companies like Google and Apple.

It was like a trip back in time -- back to Germany's recent past, when the country was happier and untroubled. But then Christine Bruchmann, a local business leader, abruptly steered the discussion back to the issue that has dominated Germany in recent weeks. Bruchmann wanted to know if Merkel was concerned that the huge numbers of refugees currently arriving in the country could disrupt societal balance.

The German chancellor took a deep breath before launching into a sober analysis of the job she has done in the past two months. Unfortunately, her conclusion was not particularly rosy.

She knows, Merkel said, that there still isn't European agreement on how to share the refugee burden; that there is still no deal with Turkey on slowing the inflow of migrants into Europe; and that along the Balkan Route, used by hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis in recent weeks in their quest to seek asylum in Germany and other northern European countries, there is a lack of "order" and "control." In particular, Merkel said, she is concerned about that "which makes Germany so strong," namely "the societal center." She is constantly asking herself, Merkel related, "if we are losing the center."

One of Merkel's great strengths is an unerring sense for political reality. As such, her comments at the town meeting early last week show that nobody knows better than Germany's chancellor just how precarious the situation in the country has become. The influx of refugees continues unabated and Merkel's public approval ratings continue to fall in lockstep with sinking support for her center-right Christian Democrats (CDU). Meanwhile, her quarrel with Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's Bavarian sister party, has reached a new and dangerous level. Seehofer has issued so many ultimatums to the chancellor that he will eventually be forced to make good on one of his threats -- which could throw Merkel's suddenly wobbly governing coalition completely off kilter.

'The End of the Merkel Era'

The government, in short, has lost control. And Germany is in a state of emergency.

Merkel can still rely on a large number of supporters within her own party. But each day that thousands of refugees cross into Germany, the certainty that such support is sustainable erodes a bit further. Not long ago, Merkel was considered the strongest political leader in Europe, one whose term in office could only come to an end were she to decide herself against running for reelection in 2017. Now, both foreign and domestic media outlets are wondering aloud whether she will run into serious trouble before Christmas, or shortly thereafter. "The end of the Merkel era is within sight," the Financial Times wrote a week ago.

Merkel's historic decision to open Germany's borders to refugees stuck in Hungary was morally unassailable. But politically, it has put her on the defensive. Now, in order to tighten up Europe's external borders, she is dependent on the help of erstwhile opponents such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

In the EU, meanwhile, her maxim that Europe should not get back into the business of building border fences is being openly questioned. Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, for example, announced last week that her country was being forced to build additional security facilities because the "inflow" from Slovenia was larger than the "outflow" into Germany.

There is no shortage of schadenfreude these days when European politicians speak about the German chancellor. The true ruler of Europe, who forced her austerity policies upon the entire Continent, must now come begging for help in dealing with the refugee crisis, people in Brussels are saying.

Indeed, it is slowly becoming apparent that Merkel's influence in the EU is waning just as her support evaporates back home in Germany. To be sure, the chancellor's stock has risen in recent weeks among Green Party supporters and left-wing Social Democrats. But her own core of center-right voters is fearful that the "refugees welcome" movement could give rise to a parallel society of Muslims in the country.

A Shot in the Arm for the Populists

The situation is not dissimilar to the fate of her predecessor Gerhard Schröder. In the early 2000s, the Social Democratic chancellor pushed through welfare cuts and reduced unemployment benefits that severely alienated many in his party. The result was a reanimated Left Party, the far-left political movement that partially grew out of the former East German communist party.

This time, leading German politicians have warned, Merkel's asylum policies could provide a shot in the arm to the country's right-wing populists. One member of her government warns that her stance on migrants is an "aid program for the AfD," a reference to the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany. The party, which received 4.7 percent of the vote in Germany's last general election, is currently polling at 8 percent, according to a survey released on Saturday.

CDU members say that Merkel's only option for freeing herself from the trap in which she currently finds herself is that of rapidly reducing the number of immigrants arriving in Germany. But it doesn't currently look as though that is a realistic possibility. Some 500,000 refugees have entered the country since the beginning of September, and there is no end in sight. "Prepare for the eventuality that in the coming weeks, 10,000 to 12,000 refugees will arrive at the border each day," a member of the Coordinating Committee inside of Germany's Interior Ministry said last Wednesday, quoting from a communiqué from the Austrian Interior Ministry.

The situation at Germany's borders has indeed become dramatic. Last week, for example, Austrian authorities brought over 7,000 refugees to the German border and simply unloaded them there at 3:30 a.m. One day later, Emily Haber, state secretary in Germany's Interior Ministry, said: "We have to prevent a repeat of such chaotic scenes at the German border." She then added: "That was a clear violation of the agreements."

One exhausted aid worker spoke of a "humanitarian catastrophe." And SPD parliamentarian Christian Flisek from the German border city of Passau said: "We are transforming our border areas into the country's refugee camp. It can't continue indefinitely."

The mood isn't just becoming critical at the border. In late October, 215 mayors in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia wrote a letter to Chancellor Merkel and to the state's governor, Hannelore Kraft, saying that their ability to cope with the situation had been exhausted. Almost all available shelters were full to overflowing, they wrote, and even providing people shelter in tents or containers was hardly possible anymore. Furthermore, the municipalities are so busy with managing the inflow of refugees "that we are unable, or only partially able, to fulfill our other municipal responsibilities," they wrote in the letter. At almost exactly the same time, five municipal politicians from another region in the state sent an additional letter of protest to Governor Kraft's office.

Perils for Merkel

It's a strange development for Merkel. It has been a long time since she has faced such dissent. But there's another reason that the development could become perilous for Merkel. Recently, greater scrutiny has been placed on Merkel's policies of the past months -- and it has revealed that she has made some far reaching mistakes.

For one, Merkel's Chancellery responded far too late to the historic dimensions of the crisis. Already as far back as February, local communities had already begun ringing the alarm for help. In May, transit country Serbia began preparing for larger refugee movements. But officials in Berlin did nothing.

The Interior Ministry refused to allow the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to hire additional staff for processing asylum applications and thousands of old cases were left unprocessed. Later, when it became clear that the task at hand was too much for the head of the agency, he still remained in office for weeks.

In June, CDU members of the state legislature in Baden-Württemberg warned in Berlin that the situation could get out of hand, but federal government officials didn't even begin to think about switching into crisis mode.

And then came Hungary. Merkel's decision to open the border was correct. There was a humanitarian emergency and there was no time for lengthy consideration. But even correct decisions can have undesired consequences. Merkel failed to strongly state that taking in refugees in this way was an exception. It created the impression that Germany was prepared to accept every refugee who came to Europe. She didn't mean it that way, but that was the message that many wanted to hear.

Merkel's approval rating

Playing into Orbán's Hands

Merkel's move played right into the hands of Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán. He had wanted to suspend the Dublin Agreement, which requires asylum applications to be processed in the European country where refugees first arrive. Under Dublin, his country would have been forced to take in many of the refugees. The chancellor did him a favor in opening the borders and suspending the original rules.

"A European problem was turned into a German one," Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper wrote in an editorial. And the point at which Merkel called for European solidarity came too late. Germany's partners understood action taken by the government in Berlin to be an invitation to simply pass the refugees on to Germany. Orbán accused Merkel of brazenness and even moral imperialism.

All at once, the balance of power in the EU was turned on its head. As it turns out, the woman who until very recently had been hailed the "Queen of Europe" has insufficient leverage to force her European neighbors to help.

Instead, Merkel has navigated herself into a corner. The fact that she has been abandoned by both her European neighbors and many within her own party has strongly reduced the chancellor's room for maneuver. Nor is any help from her coalition partner, the center- left Social Democrats (SPD), to be expected.

Instead, the SPD are observing with barely concealed satisfaction how their seemingly invincible opponent is weakening herself. They seem to be taking a sit back and relax attitude, even though the party itself doesn't stand to profit from the chancellor's weakness due to its perpetually weak standing in public opinion polls, where it appears to have become stuck on 25 percent, a pitiful figure for a once large party.

After initially expressing sympathy for Seehofer's demand to establish "transit zones," the party is now indicating an unwillingness to compromise. "We will not agree to the detention centers," said Thomas Oppermann, the head of the party's group in parliament. Instead he is calling for the further suspension of the Schengen Agreement. "Independent of that, however, we need to quickly apply assertive border controls and ensure that there are orderly conditions when it comes to entry into Germany."

Merkel is wavering, but is there a chance she will actually fall? The threat has never been as great during her 10 years in office. At the same time, Merkel is also an experienced crisis manager who knows that her political survival is dependent on lowering the number of refugees.

The CDU and the CSU tend to hold on to their leaders as long as they can continue to win elections. In March, voters will go to the polling stations in three German states. In that sense, Merkel has precisely four months' time to get the situation under control.

Much more discussion is found on the original article in Spiegel. It centres mostly around interior and regional politics. 

German Village of 102 Getting Ready to House… 750 Refugees

In the 'Oh, Lord!' category...

Migrants are escorted by German police to a registration centre, after crossing
 the Austrian-German border in Wegscheid near Passau, Germany,
November 1, 2015. © Michael Dalder / Reuters

A small German village containing just 102 residents and with almost no infrastructure will have to accommodate as many as 750 asylum seekers after a decision by the regional authorities. Villagers fear the area will be unable to cope with the burden.

The first group of refugees amounting to 500 people will arrive in Sumte – a small village in the German state of Lower Saxony – as early as Monday. The one-street settlement with no shops, no school and even no police station fears that its accommodation capabilities will be pushed to the limit.

Initially, the regional authorities wanted the village to house 1,000 refugees, which they informed the settlement mayor of via e-mail in early October. At that time, this news was perceived by the villagers as a hoax.

The tiny village of Sumte

Christian Fabel, the village’s mayor, and his wife thought “it was a joke,” which “certainly could not be true,” as they could not believe that the settlement would be ordered to house a number of asylum seekers that exceeded 10 times the number of its villagers, the New York Times reported.

However, they soon realized that it was not a joke and that it was impossible to block this decision when Alexander Gotz, a spokesman of the Lower Saxony Interior Ministry, responsible for the distribution of refugees, told Fabel that the village had “two options – yes, or yes.”

Later, after the villagers protested this decision at several meetings with regional authorities citing security concerns and a lack of necessary infrastructure, the number of refugees the settlement should house was decreased from 1,000 to a maximum of 750 people.

“The burden of 1,000 refugees for one village with only 102 residents is absolutely disproportionate – it cannot be compared with any other place in Germany” the village’s mayor Christian Fabel said at the first meeting with the regional authorities devoted to this issue.

“200 or 300 would be a justifiable number,” he added as quoted by the German Hamburger Abendblatt.

“We have zero infrastructure here for so many people,” Fabel also said, as quoted by the New York Times.

Sumte, Germany

Regional authorities disregarded these claims but admitted that the village’s sewage system was unlikely to cope with the sudden influx of 1,000 new residents, so they lowered the quota for the settlement in order to give time for the extension of that system.

Of course, you know what that means. Sumte's taxes will increase dramatically to pay for the sewer upgrade made necessary by the migrants.

At the same time, the villagers began calling for security to be beefed up. Local lawmaker Manfred Nahrstedt demanded that a special 24/7 manned police station should be established in the neighboring town of Neuhaus located five kilometers from the village.

Some local residents even suggested the creation of a special police unit monitoring refugees.

Both proposals were rejected by the deputy district police chef, Matthias Oltersdorf, who dubbed such measures “excessive,” as reported by the German NDR news. Oltersdorf said that Sumte did not need a permanent police presence and added that safety of the villagers would be guaranteed by the fact that street lights would stay lit all night long.

And this is the district police chief! Good grief! It appears he is taking no extra measures to police the village. This is not going to go well.

Good people of Sumte - don't let your girls out at night, streetlights or no streetlights. The danger of them being raped has just skyrocketed.

They're here

Between two fires
Now, many villagers feel betrayed by the government. Dirk Hammer, a local resident and a longtime supporter of Angel Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party expressed his disappointment with the situation in Sumte in an open letter published on Facebook.

In this letter, he called the refugee policy of the regional authorities that stripped the villagers of their right to take part in decision making “a moderate dictatorship.” He also warned that hosting large numbers of refugees in small settlements like Sumte could give “an ideal platform for the far right.”

In the meantime, the representatives of the local far-right groups call the current refugee policy of the regional authorities “asylum terror” and demand to stop it. Still, the far-right got little support among the local residents, who think that such views are incompatible with democracy.

“We have to take a clear stand against these people,” Dirk Hammer said at one of the villagers’ meetings referring to the far-right, which he denounced as disruptive outsiders, the New York Times reported.


Why Sumte?
In view of the winter approaching and with the refugee influx showing no signs of slowing, German authorities now have to find as many places to shelter asylum seekers as possible in order to avoid homelessness.

The German State of Lower Saxony alone received more than 75,000 asylum requests in 2015 – almost four times as many as in the last year. Now, the regional authorities are struggling to find at least temporary shelters for refugees for the coming winter.

The asylums seekers have already been housed in storage facilities, gyms, schools, former senior homes and even military bases with many German states lacking shelters in the view of unending refugee inflow.

Sumte chosen because of a number of empty office buildings

In October, the Lower Saxony interior ministry decided to accommodate another group of refugees in 23 empty office buildings in Sumte that were owned by a now-defunct company. The authorities say that the offices will be used as a refugee center for a year as an emergency winter shelter and the refugees will stay in the village only for the time necessary to process their asylum requests.

However, the villagers believe that those who move will be soon replaced by newcomers. “Life here is going to change,” the mayor said as quoted by the New York Times.

Germany has already taken in at least 600,000 asylums seekers since the beginning of this year and this number is expected to grow up to 800,000 or even 1 million. In the meantime, the opposition to the German government’s policy in political establishment and society is growing with anti-immigrant movements such as PEGIDA drawing more and more supporters.

Pegida Comes to Canada - Oh, Joy!

Sympathizers of a Europe-based anti-Islam, anti-immigration group called
PEGIDA have set up a local chapter in Quebec and are planning on
demonstrating in Montreal on Saturday

The self-described leader of the PEGIDA Québec chapter, Jean-François Asgard, told Radio-Canada his beliefs are closely aligned to those espoused by the National Front, a British political party exclusive to white people that advocates for repatriation of all non-white people to their countries of origin.

"Islam needs to reform itself or leave the West," Asgard said.

Anti-racist protesters, meanwhile, are also planning a counter-demonstration for the same place and time.

Jaggi Singh of the No One Is Illegal activist group said the intention of the counter-protest is to surround the PEGIDA marchers and prevent them from walking into Little Maghreb, a largely Muslim community in the Montreal neighbourhood of St-Michel.

"Neo-Nazis, Islamophobes, internet trolls — they all sort of congregate around this thing called PEGIDA," Singh said.

What is PEGIDA?

The organization is popular with neo-Nazis and other nationalists and is often spoken about favourably on white supremacist online forums such as Stormfront and National Front.

PEGIDA, which in German stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, first popped up in October 2014. The relatively new group began in Dresden, Germany and uses Facebook as a main organizing tool. 

PEGIDA Québec first began posting on Facebook in January, shortly after the Charlie Hebdo attack. Saturday afternoon's demonstration is referred to online as the local chapter's first action.

PEGIDA Québec leader Asgard told Radio-Canada that the itinerary planned for Saturday — which they submitted ahead of time to Montreal police — intentionally passes in front of several Muslim community centres and mosques.

Well-known Montreal activist Jaggi Singh, seen here holding a megaphone
in this file photo, is a main organizer of Saturday's
anti-PEGIDA demonstration. (CBC)

Singh said it's very worrisome that people who normally only espouse racist and xenophobic opinions online are moving into the physical world.

And the reason for that, Mr Singh, is that some of their concerns are resonating with people who are not xenophobes or racists or fascists, but have their eyes open to what Islam is all about - which is: one world - one religion - Islam! 

I know most North American Muslims are not the least bit interested in that. I also know that the Muslim Brotherhood, OIC, and other Muslim organizations operating in North American universities, mosques, and cultural centres, are very interested in propagating Islam globally as well as promoting the destruction of Israel and America. Many universities in the US and Canada are overtly anti-Israel thanks to their influence in student societies.

Pegida, unfortunately, will have only a negative influence on raising awareness of the Islamization of North America because of the involvement of racists and xenophobes and a decidedly liberal (read - blind and stupid) media. Simply reading the black print in this post will tell you where CBC stands without any question. 

Unfortunately, those of us with legitimate concerns about Islamization are simply flushed down the drain with the so-called 'fascists'. That's how liberals avoid addressing difficult questions, and why the rest of us are so very concerned. That's what happened in Germany, and that's what will happen here.

"Now we know there's racists out there, we know there's Islamophobes out there, we know there's fascists out there, but what's different today is that they're trying to march publicly in a working class, immigrant area that is predominantly North African," he said.


Antifa supporters counter-protest

Just over 100 people have RSVP'd to PEGIDA Québec's march, while nearly 900 members of Antifa (anti-fascism) and other anti-racist groups are expected to attend the counter-demonstration.

Singh said he doesn't expect the protest to become violent.

"There's no way that their demonstration will be able to go where they want to go. They won't be able to pass. The police have given them permission to march, but that doesn't mean people in the neighbourhood or anti-racist groups are giving them permission to march," he said.

Montreal police confirmed officers will be on the scene to keep an eye on any potential violence.

Germany Pegida: Leader Kathrin Oertel Quits Protest Group

The new leader of Germany's controversial Pegida anti-Islamisation group Pegida has resigned a week after her predecessor

Kathrin Oertel had become the public face of Pegida
after her predecessor stepped down

Kathrin Oertel appeared on TV last week and had become the public face of the movement after Lutz Bachmann stepped down.

A photo of Mr Bachman posing as Hitler had been published and he had made disparaging comments about refugees.

Four other leading figures in the group have resigned alongside Ms Oertel.

One of the five told Bild newspaper that they had resigned because of Mr Bachmann's continuing influence and the role of a separate, sister movement in Leipzig known as Legida.

Placard at Pegida protest in Villingen-Schwenningen
Slogans such as "Truth instead of lying press" have been criticised
as harking back to the Nazi era

Thousands of supporters have joined Pegida marches in several towns and cities in recent weeks, especially in Dresden where the movement began. The name stands for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West".

A critical moment for Pegida - by Jenny Hill, BBC News Berlin

Kathrin Oertel's strikingly pencilled eyebrows have probably attracted more comment here than her political opinions.

But she has tried to take Pegida mainstream. She has distanced herself from the more radical Leipzig branch of Pegida.

She recently appeared on a German TV talk show, Pegida's first major TV appearance, to demand dialogue with the political establishment.

A government minister has now, controversially, met Pegida supporters to discuss their concerns. But those supporters, not to mention the leadership, have wildly divergent opinions.

Some believe there's no place for "foreigners" in Germany. Some are right-wing extremists. Others just want a public debate about immigration.

And, without strong and consistent leadership, it is that lack of cohesion that, critics predict, will prove fatal for this movement.

Hostile Messages

The growth of the movement around Germany has prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel and several other political leaders to warn of the dangers of intolerance and racism.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned of the damage that Pegida's "xenophobic and racist slogans and placards" were having on Germany's image abroad. One slogan, "lying press", is seen as harking back to the Nazi era. It was used by Adolf Hitler in 1922 and later by his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

After news of the resignations was leaked, a statement appeared on Pegida's Facebook page (in German), in which the group accused the media of "falling over themselves with all sorts of news".

"The fact is, Kathrin has resigned from her post as spokeswoman for the time being. This is because of massive, hostile messages, threats and the disadvantages she has suffered to her career," the statement read.

Right, and the four other people who left; what about them?

It was not about personalities, but about the cause, it added.

Ms Oertel had become well known in Germany after appearing on the widely watched Guenther Jauch talk show on 19 January.

The Leipzig, or Legida movement may be a good thing in that it should attract all the neo-Nazis. Pegida needs to dissolve completely and re-invent itself as a political movement like Front National in France. They need to bleed-off the extreme, right wing-nuts and move into a political path. The marching has accomplished its purpose in getting attention; now it is time to do something constructive with that energy.