German Chancellor Criticizes Anti-Islam Protests

TEHRAN (IQNA) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to turn their backs on a growing movement of anti-Muslim protesters, calling them racists full of hatred, and said Europe’s biggest economy must welcome people fleeing conflict and war.

Many Germans are worried about a flood of asylum seekers, many from Syria, pouring into the country. A new movement, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida), is holding weekly rallies in the eastern city of Dresden.

Referring to protests that took place before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ms Merkel said: "Today many people are again shouting on Mondays: ‘We are the people’. But in fact they mean: you do not belong — because of the colour of your skin or your religion, Reuters reported.

"So I say to everyone who goes to such demonstrations: do not follow those who are appealing to you! Because too often there is prejudice, coldness, even hatred, in their hearts."