Threats proving their point.
BERLIN – A weekly rally by a German group protesting what it calls “the Islamization of the West” was called off on Sunday because of a terrorist threat against one of its organizers, the group and authorities said.
The group calling itself PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, has organized rallies every Monday in the eastern German city of Dresden. Last week’s event drew the biggest crowd yet, with police estimating some 25,000 people attended.
PEGIDA said on its Facebook page that this Monday’s rally was called off for security reasons because, according to police, “there is a concrete threat against a member of the organization team.”
Dresden police chief Dieter Kroll said in a statement that there was a “concrete” threat connected to a member of the PEGIDA team and Monday’s demonstration. In view of that, he issued an order barring any rallies in the city on Monday.