It was a year ago this week that PEGIDA was born in Dresden, and its first anniversary march and rally took place tonight. 40,000 people reportedly showed up for the occasion, filling up Theaterplatz square in front of the Opera House to listen to the speakers. Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, was a surprise guest-speaker at the event.
The recorded live feed from the demonstration is here; look for Tommy’s speech at 2:27:07.
The Daily Mail has extensive coverage of tonight’s demonstration in Dresden, with numerous excellent photos. Below are excerpts:
‘Do not let Germany be dragged back to chaos and destruction’: EDL founder Tommy Robinson speaks to 40,000 strong crowd at the Pegida anti-immigrant rally in Germany
The founder of the EDL has addressed a 40,000-strong crowd in Dresden tonight, as Germany’s far-right celebrates the first anniversary of the anti-refugee group Pegida.
Tommy Robinson, who set up and led the English Defence League, looked out over the crowd of tens of thousands of Germans as police braced themselves for violence.
Despite quitting the far-right group two years ago, after a realisation that his group was ‘part of the problem’, this is Robinson’s second appearance at a Pegida rally this week after appearing at a Pegida anti-Islam rally in Holland last weekend.
The 32-year-old told the assembled crowd: ‘Do not let Germany be dragged back to chaos and destruction. All of your progress is now threatened.
‘Your current chancellor, Angela Merkel, seems to be handing out the birth right of German citizens like she is handing out candy to children.’
He continued: ‘The current charge held against all of us is that the refugee crisis is similar to World War Two. And like then, we are supposed to respond with great generosity.
‘The difference of course, which we are not permitted to speak about, is the two evils: terrorism and ideology.
‘We are offered silence, free speech is all but dead in Europe. We live in a post free speech era, the attacks on Charlie Hebdo have proven that to the whole world.
‘Only in assemblies like these can the truth be spoken about. And those like me who speak out about the dangers facing our countries, we’re confronted with death threats. We face harassment and persecution.’
He added: ‘Every country has the right to defend themselves, including Israel. And of course so does every country in Europe, including Germany.
‘I encourage you people to refuse the shame game. Refuse to feel guilty. Germany is not obliged to save the refugee crisis.
‘This current immigration is an invasion. Our borders are being overrun. There is little or no control. A country that cannot control its borders will soon not be a country.’
He finished: ‘We need one banner. Save our culture. Save our country. Save our future. Unite to save a future for our children.’
The rally has continued into the night, as senior German officials warned that the extremist movement is stirring up hatred that could lead to clashes.
Hat tips: For the article, Steen; for the video, Gaia.
For links to previous articles about PEGIDA (Patriotische Europäer Gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) and related movements, see the PEGIDA Archives.
Now we will doubtless see, on Tommy’s return to England, more harassment by our sharia-enforcing police. They won’t forgive him for this. Hopefully, these individual pockets of resistance will soon begin linking arms.
I expect Tommy will have serious crowds of realists showing up wherever he goes. “You can’t keep a good man down.”
Except that they did keep Tommy down. And when they had him down, they kicked him. Those shiny new teeth were not a gift from the Tooth Fairy.
It’s telling that the Daily Mail first characterizes PEGIDA as “anti-immigrant” then, more snidely, as “anti-refugee”; this pure propaganda and the latter is a naked attempt to label PEGIDA as heartless and is a typical Leftist smear tactic. My understanding of PEGIDA is, if it is “anti” anything, it’s against Islamization of their society and the preservation of their own culture.
If the crowd estimate of 40,000 patriotic, indigenous Europeans is accurate, this is a very good, positive sign.
RT news downplayed it to 20 000. Given the media’s tendency to lowball any anti-Islam demonstration, I’d guess it might even be higher than 40 000, which I think would be a record turn out for PEGIDA.
CNN’s coverage was no less condescending. They portrayed Lutz Bachmann as some hot-headed thug, and snidely stated that even though PEGIDA may be gaining traction again, the harsh rhetoric against immigrants was driving ordinary Germans away. Of course, the fact that PEGIDA is made up of ordinary Germans isn’t something they care about.
RT English native speaker reporters go extremely shrill as the magic word “Islamophobia” is repeated over and over. A bit like the reporter is being forced to use a word that is a lie. Also so a bit prostitutiony.
Yes I see that. Some of those that spout pc act as though they really do believe, others don’t.
I like your neologism. “Prostitutiony” indeed.
You can only cry wolf so many times – the establishment has cried it once too often.
What is it with the Daily Mail? If you claim to be a reader you’re mocked and scorned by Lefties, but all too often it takes swipes at its own readership. Perhaps it’s part of that faux-right Friberg mentions on his site, mascarading as ‘understanding’ and sharing perspectives with the Left so as to appear palatable?
40,000 is huge. Fantastic. Hope it’s correct. The German newspaper Die Zeit is estimating 20,000.
This should give us all cause for optimism.
The struggle is not over, nowhere near.
Wir sind das Volk!
The Daily Mail is right wing. They’re all in on it, whether left or right.
I think the Mail has the same problem that Counterjihad websites in the UK have — they want to avoid government action that might cost them financially or even shut them down. No major outlet in the MSM that disagrees with the Narrative can risk expressing its dissent directly.
Monitor the overall content of the Mail over an extended period, and you’ll see that they cover issues that most other outlets won’t touch. Their audience is huge, and millions of people now have access to important information about Islam and immigration that they wouldn’t if it weren’t for the Mail.
Yes, they have to curl their reportorial lips at the “racists” and “extreme right” while they do it, and make the ritual condemnations. But that may simply be a strategic necessity. The important thing is that they actually propagate the information, which none of us little “hater” sites can do.
What other MSM outlet gave such extensive coverage to what went down in Dresden last night? Who else quoted Tommy’s words extensively, rather than just tendentious sound bites?
By their fruit ye shall know them.
The fighter ducking and diving, bobbing and weaving. Lots of real news getting through. What is the Daily Mail or anyone else really saying.
The majority of Brits don’t even realize what’s happening to Europe – it’s really sad. After a few years all these ‘refugees’ will be coming to Britain legally…if the whole EU doesn’t collapse by then.
Britain is reserved for Pakis, Indians and other commonwealth partners, once it gets its secession from the EU. That’s the plan of Farrage and Cameron.
Good point.
Farage uses the commonwealth as a stick through which to beat the EU, but I don’t think he’d really support the mass flow of immigrants to the UK from India or any former colonies. As much as I get on with Indians and they are often very alert to the threat posed by Muslims, having lived in an area where they are a majority, I wouldn’t and can’t imagine Farage would want them to move here in any significant number.
good for you tommy .. i hope they leave you [redacted] alone. can’t say enough
about this man. he makes all of us proud ..
He should become the new King of England.
He should become the new King of England, for his courage and loyalty to the people.
The leaders of the European and North American elective dictatorships, who misrule their countries with such single minded fanaticism remind me of a bunch of crazy cat ladies who, surrounded by 400 starving cats in their filthy residences, assure health inspectors that carpets are supposed to smell of cat [urine].
Angela Merkel wins the crown as the supreme crazy cat lady followed closely by Hollande, Cameron and now that ridiculous unhinged newcomer, baby Trudeau.
There’s no hope for anyone who happens to be sane what remains of the civilised world.
I can assure you that (as someone called him above) “Baby Doc” Trudeau is going to make very few decisions on his own, as frankly, he doesn’t have the brain-power to do so. Instead he will have a “cabal” of advisors doing his thinking for him. Sounds familiar, eh?
There’s always hope. Merkle’s credibility is crumbling, she’s holding a busted flush that no amount of bluff can improve. The same can be said of the rest of the pro-multiculti Western establishment. Their ploys no longer convince.
Like the cat lady/health inspector analogy a lot. A friend once bought an apartment from a deceased estate that stank of cat urine soaked carpet. He explained to me his plans: move in then replace the carpet later. He must have had a cold at the time.
I suggested he remove the carpet as his first priority. One of his daughters present begged him: “Dad, please listen to Julius”. He did. When the carpet was removed the stench remained, as after 30 or 40 years the urine had penetrated into the concrete floor. He had to get some guys to “shave” the concrete floor down by 5mm to fully eliminate the stench.
Merkel, Hollande, Cameron and that ultra-thick Swedish PM must all have very severe “colds” affecting their sense of “smell”.
Robinson is only 32? Seems to have been around for years now. Well he has I guess. Maybe Europe is waking up, they will always be anti-Semitic, but they seem to be moving to the right, or rather moving towards common sense on Islam; well maybe. I think Europe has to commit suicide – via the Muslim invasion it welcomes – in order to save itself, I don’t think that’s a contradiction, just a paradox. Europe needs to come to the brink of destruction in order to wake up. Nothing less will do. The question is, is it too late? I don’t think it’s too late, I just think at the end of the day nothing less than a radical change in government with the necessary will to do what is needed, will change anything.
Meanwhile Canada (new PM today is not good news) and America appear lost, lurching ever further toward destruction. Yes like Europe. But Europe is at least having huge rallies. Nothing like this in North America. Just because the refugee crisis hasn’t hit North America in the same way, yet how many Muslims are immigrating to North America every year? And so what’s the difference then? America will be like Germany and England soon enough, it already is. And they seem even more apathetic and self-absorbed than the generally clueless Europeans. Some light in the darkness now, but still a darkness.
North America is a very big place. When our gov’t secretly locate, literally under the cloak of darkness, immigrants to various towns it doesn’t make a ripple.
We only see the fall out two to five years later when the demands start.
As I said, North America is a very big place and the budget for the USA and Canada is huge. It is hard to read the fallout of Muslim immigration in countries such as ours.
Immer mit die “far right” Torheit.
I suppose Santa Angela is a middle of the roader now. Just a smidgen of betrayal. Not too much. Not like those extreme leftists.