35,000 Germans took to the streets in Dresden on Saturday, protesting against xenophobia and racism

MOSCOW, January 10 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — Tens of thousands took to the streets on Saturday, January 10, in Dresden, eastern Germany, protesting against xenophobia and racism.

"Around 35,000 people attended the rally that was jointly organized by the state government of Saxony and the city of Dresden," Reuters reported citing local officials.

It should be noted that Saturday protests have been organized in a response to weekly actions conducted by Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) group, attended by up to 18,000 German protesters.

"We won't permit that hate will divide us", Dresden's mayor Helma Orosz said as cited by Reuters.

Agence France Press earlier reported that PEGIDA had planned to hold its rally on Monday, January 12, to commemorate victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, asking its followers "to wear black armbands" and "observe a minute's silence" for the terrorism victims. Launched in October as a march of only 500 people, the movement has amassed thousands of supporters in the past months.

It is worth mentioning that a recent poll carried out just before the Wednesday massacre in Paris indicated that Islam, according to Reuters, threatens a growing majority of Germans.

Merkel on #Pegida: "Their hearts are cold and full of prejudice, and even hate" http://t.co/I6KhHVDrtT pic.twitter.com/IgfAcCz1Kv — The Economist (@TheEconomist) 10 января 2015

The media outlet warns that the Charlie Hebdo case is likely to trigger numerous anti-immigration movements across Europe and even flare-up "a culture war" between Muslim believers and non-Muslim Westerners.

During a Christian Democrats (CDU) party meeting in Hamburg on Saturday, January 10, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against racism and xenophobia in the state.

"We have made clear that the events in France, this barbaric terrorist act, are a challenge for all of us, for the values that we advocate, to fight for them," she said adding that Germans should not mix up ordinary Muslims with Islamist radicals.

Chancellor Merkel has repeatedly slammed PEGIDA's demonstrations in Dresden, denouncing its organizers as racists.