On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets in Dresden for democracy, tolerance and cosmopolitanism. According to police and organizers participated by the afternoon around 10,000 at the event.
Various alliances, trade unions and associations had called under the slogan "heart instead of hate" to the resistance against the Islam-hostile Pegida movement. This celebrated its fourth anniversary on Sunday.
Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU), his deputy Martin Dulig and Science Minister Eva-Maria Stange (both SPD) also joined in the procession of the demonstrators of "Herz statt Hetze".
Around 5000 people at Pegida-Technoparade
Kretschmer was pleased in view of the crowds. "It's encouraging, that's an important signal," he said. It took too long to find the right way to handle xenophobic slogans. It was important to approach each other with decency and to talk to each other.
Dulig demanded to fight for humanity and democracy. "We need an everyday culture of contradiction in the country," he said. Science Minister Eva-Maria Stange (SPD) warned that Pegida are no longer just the malcontents, but rights and tighten this.
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Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) described the four-year existence of Pegida as a "sad day for our country". But it was not a day to "put their hands on their lap," Maas wrote on Twitter. It was "great" that the people in Dresden demonstrated against Pegida.
According to eyewitnesses, about 5,000 people came to the Pegida demonstration. The police did not want to give numbers yet. No significant incidents occurred until the afternoon.
For more attention caused Pegida last in Chemnitz, where the group organized together with the AfD after the death of a young man, a "silent march".