German city braced for Pegida demonstration as record 25,000 attend latest march organised by far-right group in Dresden, the first since Paris attacks

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and most of her cabinet will join a rally for an “open and tolerant Germany” called by Muslim leaders at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Tuesday after another night of anti-Muslim rallies across the country.

The vigil was called by Muslim organisations to remember the victims of the Islamist militant attacks on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher shop in Paris.

The attacks in France have inflamed the row in Germany over demonstrations by supporters of the far-right Pegida group, who have gathered in Dresden and a growing number of cities since October.

On Monday night, a record 25,000 anti-Islamist protesters marched through Dresden, many holding banners with anti-immigrant slogans, and held a minute’s silence for the victims of the Paris attacks.

The Pegida leader, Lutz Bachmann, set out the group’s demands for the German government, including a new law forcing immigrants to integrate, and ensuring that Islamists who leave Germany to fight are not allowed to return.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thousands attend an anti-Islamisation rally in the eastern German town of Dresden, just days after the Paris terror attacks left 17 people dead.

Leading politicians stepped up their criticism after Pegida organisers announced that this week’s demonstrations would be held in mourning for those killed in Paris.

Horst Seehofer, head of the conservative Christian Social Union, called for Monday’s Pegida marches to be called off, while the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, accused Pegida of exploiting the attacks.

On Monday, Merkel triggered a fierce debate when she pointed to comments made by the former German president Christian Wulff, who said in 2010 that Islam was part of Germany.

“Former president Wulff said Islam belongs to Germany. That is true. I also hold this opinion,” she said alongside the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, who also took part in the Paris march on Sunday.

Up to 10,000 people were expected to attend a Pegida anti-Islam rally in Leipzig on Monday night after the city lifted a ban on cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, as Germany braced itself for the first such protests since the attacks in Paris. In the event, Leipzig police estimated that 15,000 counter-protesters had rallied against a far smaller number of anti-Islam demonstrators.

The ban was added to the city’s list of conditions on the demonstration permit in the wake of the attacks, but met with several complaints.

The city’s mayor, Burkhard Jung, told state broadcaster MDR he had decided to lift the ban, saying that a demonstration permit was not the place to curtail freedom of speech.

An anti-Pegida demonstration on Saturday in Dresden in favour of tolerance, organised by the government of Saxony, attracted 35,000 people. “That was very encouraging, of course,” said Marcel Nowicki, a Leipziger helping to coordinate counter-demonstrations. “But there were other things that have also been very encouraging for us. There were support events [in Leipzig] in the weeks before.”

Legida, the name of the Pegida group in Leipzig, posted the official set of rules for ’s protest on its Facebook page at the weekend, including the ban on Muhammad caricatures, along with a notice saying: “These are to be strictly obeyed.”

Nowicki said the organisers had used the ban for their own ends. “It wasn’t forced top-down,” he said. “It was a nice publicity stunt. What the Legida protesters did was to proclaim that they have been forced not to show any of those caricatures. In reality it wasn’t quite like that.”

A spokesman for the city said the ban had been imposed by mutual agreement between organisers and the local public order office. Criticism of the ban came from city councillor René Hobusch, among others. He said the ban was censorship and an “unacceptable restriction on the freedoms of assembly and speech”.