Germans gather for large pro- and anti-immigration rallies

Germans gather for large pro- and anti-immigration rallies
(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

With 200,000 asylum seekers having entered Germany within the past year, it's a hot topic in the country, and protests both in favor of and against immigration were held in Dresden and Berlin on Monday.

In Dresden, anti-immigrant marchers were brought together by a "murky movement" known by the acronym Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West), The New York Times reports. The demonstrators said they were only against "economic refugees" who "abuse the system." Chancellor Angela Merkel called for Germans to stay away from such marches, saying they were filled with people who had "prejudice, coldness, and even hatred in their hearts."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.