Geert Wilders at Dresden anti-Islam march, Germans counter-protest

The German anti-Islam movement Pegida expects to attract 30,000 people to the Monday rally in Dresden featuring the PVV leader Geert Wilders, reports the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. Wilders is currently visiting Germany in an attempt to strengthen ties with anti-Islamic forces outside of the Netherlands. His appearance is billed as a highlight of the Pegida event. Lately, the movement managed to attract only about half of the expected number of Monday marchers. A counter-protest is also planned in Dresden for Monday, organized by a Dresden nazifrei (“Dreseden without Nazis”) movement. “We cannot allow the city to become the center for European right populism”, head of the movement Silvio Lang is quoted as saying in the FAZ. Geert Wilders is one of the most visible politicians in the Netherlands. His rhetoric has previously provoked legal action against him both in the Netherlands and abroad. Most recently, a Muslim organization laid criminal charges against the politician in Austria.