DPA/Wuppertal, Germany
Masked hooligans threw firecrackers at police yesterday from a march by the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement as conflicting demonstrations took place in the western German city of Wuppertal.
Police in riot gear with batons tried to drive the rioters back.
PEGIDA’s founder Lutz Bachmann had called earlier on his supporters to remain calm in a speech from a stage at the rally.
“Don’t destroy everything now,” Bachmann said before cutting short the demonstration.
There had been the potential for clashes between hardline Muslims and their right-wing opponents during a march by Salafists as well as a protest by left-wing and radical opponents to PEGIDA, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West.
Police deployed more than 1,000 officers to deal with the Salafist march and at least two counterdemonstrations, describing the potentially violent mix as an unparalleled day of protest in Germany.
Police said the turnout was fewer than the 3,000 participants organisers had expected.
Mayor Peter Jung had earlier called for people to protest against the extremists, but he said their demonstrations should not be banned.
It is “just the price for our free democracy that ultimately you cannot prevent such marches”, he said.
Serious rioting occurred at the end of October at a demonstration by the group Hooligans Against Salafists in Cologne.
Salafists have also clashed with police in street battles in Solingen and Bonn, which, like Wuppertal, are in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
