Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

DRESDEN, Germany — Anti-immigration and anti-Muslim groups from across Europe demonstrated Saturday as migrants fleeing a renewed offensive by the Syrian government surged by the tens of thousands along Turkey's border.

In Dresden, a stronghold of Germany's Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident, or PEGIDA, thousands took part in a rally to express disapproval with Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy toward migrants. More than a million asylum-seekers are now living in Europe's wealthiest country, with more arriving each day.

Many in the crowd chanted "Merkel must go" and held signs comparing the German leader to a dictator. The chancellor's popularity ratings have tumbled amid the crisis.

Siegfried Däbritz, one of PEGIDA's leaders, said in an address that he doubted those granted asylum in Germany could integrate into the nation's culture. He called for "resistance to immigration from the Islamic area" and said politicians and the "lying press" were to blame for Germany's current "misery."

The independent group Durchgezaehlt, which monitors attendance figures, said 8,000 people took part in the Dresden rally. PEGIDA said it tallied more than twice that amount.

Martin Dulig, the premier of Saxony — the eastern German state where Dresden is located — called for tolerance. "We want to show that Dresden does not believe in incitement. We are here because we want to show Dresden's true heart," he said.

Far-right protests were held in more than a dozen other nations in Europe on Saturday including the Czech Republic, France, Poland and the Netherlands. The marches and demonstrations were part of a coordinated attempt by PEGIDA and like-minded groups to hold a so-called European Action Day. Riot police clashed with protesters at several of the rallies including in Calais, France, where police used tear gas to disperse crowds. Ten people were arrested.

The synchronized demonstrations came as the number of Syrian refugees assembled on Turkey's border jumped to 35,000, according to Reuters.

The latest exodus is a result of a renewed offensive by Syria's President Bashar Assad to retake ground controlled by opposition groups near the city of Aleppo, previously a valued commercial center.

Turkey refuses to open the border. It already hosts over 2.5 million Syrian refugees.

Back in Dresden, about 2,000 anti-PEGIDA political activists gathered less than a mile away on the other side of the city's Elbe River. A massive police presence with dozens of security officers and vehicles including large tank-like machines equipped with water canon were deployed to make sure the opposing rallies remained peaceful.

Stephan Baumann, 43, a senior member of the PEGIDA organization, said the group is consistently mischaracterized by left-wing activists, the German media and the country's government. "On television we are always the bad guys, racists, Nazis. For me, I don't care. I really don't. I know it's not true," he said.

"It's wrong to say that (PEGIDA) is worried about immigration. We don't want it, that's all. We want to keep our Germany as it is. Our culture. Our people. Our views."

Lisa Pflugradt, 25, a research student at the Technical University of Dresden, said she did not agree with the substance of PEGIDA's ideas about immigration and keeping Islam out of Europe. But she does feel the group is misrepresented because "most Germans don't come to PEGIDA rallies and so have no idea what goes on there."

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Pflugradt, who described her political views as "inclined to the left," attended 10 PEGIDA rallies over the past year as part of a research project. She said she found a less extreme organization than she expected and, like the group, she believes Merkel did a poor job handling of the European migrant crisis.

When Merkel suggested migrants would be welcome in Germany, more should have been done to anticipate how the country would adequately look after them, Pflugradt said.

She said she is frustrated migrants didn't receive enough information about German customs and behavior, particularly in relation to the treatment of women — a reference to robberies and sexual assaults on hundreds of women in Cologne, Germany, on New Year's Eve. Police identified the perpetrators as foreign-born men, at least some of whom are asylum-seekers.