PEGIDA Protest Spread to Britain

British supporters of Germany’s PEGIDA movement are planning their first demonstration in the city of Newcastle on February 28.

A Facebook group calling itself PEGIDA UK, which has the slogan “United against Extremism”, has planned a protest march due to take place in the northeastern city of Newcastle, Britain.

British followers of Germany’s PEGIDA movement, which protests against what it calls the “Islamization” of Europe, are planning their first march on February 28, police said on Friday.

The Facebook group shows around 600 people are planning to attend the scheduled march.

A number of anti-fascist groups are already planning to resist the march, labeling Pegida UK racist and Islamophobic. They are also expressing concern over violence toward members of the general public.

PEGIDA is a right-wing populist group that protests against Islam and “criminal asylum seekers”. The group drew 25,000 people to a march in the German city of Dresden last month.

It has since seen its number of members fall, although PEGIDA-inspired protests have also taken place in Austria and Sweden in the past week.

“Unfortunately, we've witnessed a spike in attacks on the Muslim community and I think it's very important that everyone stands out and says that we don't want the Muslim community targeted,” joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) Weyman Bennet told Sputnik News.

“We want people to stand together, we don't want division. We want a society where people can stand together — black, white, Muslims, gay, straight, young and old to say that we oppose division and people that want to divide our society.”