Swiss activists have founded a local branch of the popular German anti-Muslim PEGIDA movement. The group is boasting a fast growth in supporters and plans to hold a demonstration next month.
The Swiss branch of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the
Islamization of the West) was launched two days after the attack
on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.
The PEGIDA group’s Facebook page calls on potential supporters to
come to a demonstration planned for February 16 at an as yet
undisclosed location.
The spokesman for Swiss PEGIDA is Ignaz Bearth, current head of
the Swiss Direct Democracy Party, a small party with links to
France's Front National party, according to AFP. He is also a
former member of the far-right Swiss Nationalist Party.
"Many people have been awakened since the Islamist terrorist
attack in France and realize how big the risk is and that
Islamism is not just limited to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and
Nigeria, but has arrived to Europe," Bearth said, as cited
by 20 minuten news website.
Swiss PEGIDA organizers have been posting smiley faces while
tracking the growth in the number of ‘Likes’ their page gets.
There were 3,000 of them on Sunday. Within 24 hours that number
grew by 600.
The group’s opponents - NO PEGIDA Schweiz – are still more
popular, however, with roughly twice as many supporters. They are
planning their own demonstration on February 16, to counter the
anti-Islamic rally.
That’s similar to what’s happening in Germany, the birthplace of
PEGIDA. Massive anti-terrorism rallies were held there Monday. In
most German cities, anti-PEGIDA demonstrators reportedly
outnumbered PEGIDA supporters.
However Dresden showed an opposite trend – 25,000 people joined
the anti-Islamic march there, while a counter-rally only had
8,000 participants.
READ
MORE: Anti-Islam & pro-tolerance demonstrators take to German
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Among things the Swiss PEGIDA is calling for in its 14-point program is a ban on wearing burqas in Switzerland, something that is also on the agenda of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party.
“The burqa is a symbol of radical Islam and is also used to
oppress women,” said Walter Wobmann, one of the party’s
members, told The Wall Street Jourmal. “The Swiss traditions
of tolerance, and our culture, democratic and economic system,
must not be damaged.”
Wobmann also wants a ban on entry of Muslim asylum seekers from
Iraq and Syria into Switzerland.
“The problem with Muslim immigrants is becoming bigger and
bigger,” he said. “Radical Muslims have more and more
rights and we must limit this.”
The issue of immigration, from Muslim countries in particular, has long been a hot one in Switzerland, and it is reflected in the country’s legislation.
In 2009, Swiss citizens in a referendum backed a ban on the construction of Muslim minarets. A year later, in 2010, they voted for the automatic deportation of foreigners found guilty of serious crimes.
Anti-Islamic feeling has surged in France, where Muslims have had
to deal with threats and insults and mosques have been attacked.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reacted by saying that mosques
needed the same kind of protection that synagogues and Jewish
schools already have.
Asghar Bukhari, a founding member of the Muslim Public Affairs
Committee UK, believes Muslims are now largely at a loss for what
to do, now that there is so much anger turned on them. He warned
against demonizing all Muslims because of terror attacks by small
groups of extremists.
“You have this belief that Muslims are in the know, they must
have known about the attack, these 6 million people secretly knew
about it,” he told RT. “They don’t know about it. Often
even the parents of people who are going to undertake some sort
of terrorist attack have no knowledge of what’s going to go
wrong.”
Meanwhile, PEGIDA’s ideas seem to resonate with more and more
people across Europe. The group’s French wing enjoys more than
8,000 supporters on Facebook. Local branches have also been
launched in Austria and the Netherlands.