Protesters rally under the anti-migrant banner "Fortress Europe" in cities including Dresden, Prague, Calais, Dublin and Amsterdam
A march by Germany's anti-Islamic organisation
Pegida drew thousands to the eastern city of Dresden on Saturday with
rallies in support of the movement also held in a string of other
European cities.
In Prague, about
5,000 people turned out for a Pegida-inspired march organised by two
far-Right groups, while in Amsterdam mounted police charged pro- and
anti-Pegida groups and arrested at least a dozen people.
Another rally in the northern French port of Calais, home to the infamous "Jungle" refugee camp for migrants seeking passage across the Channel to Britain, brought about 20 arrests, local authorities said.
The group began as a movement in Germany in mid-2014 and has spread to other countries as Europe grapples with its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Several thousand Pegida supporters turned up in Dresden under clear blue skies to march along the banks of the River Elbe, which flows through the city, to protest against mass immigration and the "Islamisation" of Europe.
Absent was Lutz Bachmann, the movement's founder, owing to illness, organisers said.
Many held aloft banners criticising Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who is in the firing line for her liberal stance towards refugees after Germany took in more than a million migrants last year. About 2,000 people - fewer than the 10,000 expected by police - meanwhile joined an anti-Pegida rally at which participants urged tolerance towards migrants.
Anti-Pegida marchers chanted slogans including "no place for Nazis" and "we don't need xenophobia, demagoguery or Pegida."
Pegida supporters counter that they are "European patriots against the Islamisation of the west."
In Prague, an AFP journalist put the crowd at around 5,000 although police did not give an official estimate of the demo or its counter-rally. Police arrested four people.
Police there responded with tear gas after scuffles broke out.
The Pegida group had called for the Saturday rallies, urging supporters
to march under the anti-migrant banner of "Fortress Europe". The group began as a movement in Germany in mid-2014 and has spread to other countries as Europe grapples with its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Several thousand Pegida supporters turned up in Dresden under clear blue skies to march along the banks of the River Elbe, which flows through the city, to protest against mass immigration and the "Islamisation" of Europe.
Absent was Lutz Bachmann, the movement's founder, owing to illness, organisers said.
A demonstrator carries a placard during a Pegida demonstration against islamisation in Amsterdam Photo: AP
Police, who deployed about 1,000 officers for the occasion at which an
AFP reporter said several thousand had answered the rallying call an
hour after the event began at 1400 GMT. Many held aloft banners criticising Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who is in the firing line for her liberal stance towards refugees after Germany took in more than a million migrants last year. About 2,000 people - fewer than the 10,000 expected by police - meanwhile joined an anti-Pegida rally at which participants urged tolerance towards migrants.
Anti-Pegida marchers chanted slogans including "no place for Nazis" and "we don't need xenophobia, demagoguery or Pegida."
Pegida supporters counter that they are "European patriots against the Islamisation of the west."
In Prague, an AFP journalist put the crowd at around 5,000 although police did not give an official estimate of the demo or its counter-rally. Police arrested four people.
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