Anti-Islam demos fail to attract support

One week after 25,000 Germans gathered on the streets of Dresden to demonstrate against the ‘Islamification of Europe’, around 200 Danes met up in Copenhagen and no more than 30 in Denmark’s second city, Aarhus. This is according to reports on Seven59.dk and Politiko.dk.

Despite the apparent apathy, PEGIDA spokesman, Nicolai Sennels, said he was pleased to see a broad cross-section of the public show willing to publicly show their concern about the things that are happening right now.

“It shows that some people are prepared to stand up and say violence and terror are unacceptable,” he said.

Analyst: Will not take off in Denmark

However, more people attended counter demonstrations in both cities. In Aarhus the ‘Aarhus for Diversity’ organisation attracted around 300 people, and the same number were mobilised in the capital by the ‘Revolutionary Anti-Fascists’ movement.

PEGIDA has announced more demonstrations over the following Mondays but senior researcher Cecilie Banke of the Danish Institute of International Studies said anti-Islamist demonstrations would have difficulty attracting a lot of people because Denmark, compared to Germany, hasn’t suppressed criticism of Islam.

“We’ve had an open debate which has allowed people to express their concern and, at times, fairly rabid views about Muslims. The criticism has been given free rein,” she said.

Danish news article here.

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