MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Maas called Pegida along with the Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party "rhetorical arsonists" for going against the "tolerant and cosmopolitan" majority in the country.
"No one who follows [Pegida] can free themselves from the responsibility for the acts that inspire incitement. For burning homes or injuring volunteers who help refugees," Maas told the regional Rheinische Post daily.
Monday marks the one-year anniversary since Pegida’s formation in the eastern city of Dresden. Up to 9,000 demonstrators were estimated to attend Pegida's latest anti-refugee rally on Tuesday.
The far-right German movement gained support in Spain and the United Kingdom amid rising anti-migrant sentiment as Europe faces its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
German expects to accept up to 1.5 million refugees on its soil this year. The vast majority of hundreds of thousands migrants fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa toward Europe seek refuge in Germany.
