Lutz Bachmann has stepped down as the leader of Germany’s right-wing, “anti-Islamization” group PEGIDA after a photo of him resembling Nazi leader Adolf Hitler appeared in a newspaper and circulated online.
Bachmann has led several rallies in German cities to protest the perceived “Islamization of the West.”
PEGIDA, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West (Patriotische Europäer Gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes in German), began in 41-year-old Bachman’s hometown of Dresden with a rally in October.
But the weekly rallies have grown larger ever since, with at least 25,000 people estimated to have attended a Dresden march in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris earlier this month, with the movement spreading to other European countries.
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According to German broadcaster Deustche Welle, Bachman’s resignation as chairman came as an estimated 100,000 people were expected at rallies in Leipzig — both for and against PEGIDA’s message.
PEGIDA claimed 40,000 people would show up to back their protest, but an estimated 60,000 people were expected to join counter rallies to oppose the far-right group’s message, Deutsche Welle reported, sharing a graphic depicting just how much larger the anti-PEGIDA demonstrations are than the PEGIDA rallies.
The group capitalized on the Paris attacks to justify the movement.
“The Islamists that PEGIDA has been warning about for 12 weeks showed today in France that they are not ready for democracy, but see violence and death as a solution,” the group said on its Facebook page on Jan. 7 — the day brothers Cherif and Said Kouchi attacked the office of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, allegedly at the behest of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
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Bachmann said the Hitler photo, reportedly taken two years ago, was “a joke.”
But German politicians aren’t taking it lightly.
“Anyone in politics who poses as Hitler is either a total idiot or a Nazi. Reasonable people do not follow idiots, and decent people don’t follow Nazis,” BBC reported that Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said.
Earlier this week, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she respected the right to protest, regardless of the message.
“As German Chancellor – regardless of whether I like the content – I have to ensure that anywhere in Germany people can take to the streets in demonstrations because it is a fundamental right,” EuroNews reported Merkel saying. The remark came after police banned a planned rally in Dresden, reportedly because of a terror threat against Bachmann.
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But, the chancellor has also condemned the group’s extremist views. In a New Year’s message, Merkel described PEGIDA supporters as having “prejudice, coldness, even hatred in their hearts.”
PEGIDA has reportedly claimed it’s not associated with Germany’s far-right nor anti-immigrant, but Bachmann reportedly described immigrants as “cattle,” “scumbags” and “trash” in Facebook posts, The Guardian reported.
With a file from The Associated Press
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