'Anti-Islam' March Invites Muslim Community
An anti-Islam group say they want the Muslim community to join them on a march in Newcastle.
An anti-Islam group say they want the Muslim community to join them on a march in Newcastle later in February.
PEGIDA UK are an offshoot of a German organisation, PEGIDA, who say they campaign against extremism and non-integration into British society.
Their name when translated from German is 'Patriots of Europe against the Islamisation of the West'.
PEGIDA UK spokesperson, Matthew Pope, said: "We would like the muslim community, if they actually stand by Britain and are British, we urge them to stick with us and do this protest with us, because the extreme elements of Islam affect everyone." He says the group welcomes all cultures, and has called for a peaceful and inclusive demonstration when they come to Newcastle at the end of February.
It will be the first PEGIDA event in the UK, following a number of rallies by the original organisation in Germany which have attracted up to 25,000 people. However, Abu Tayeb, from the North East Islamic Diversity Centre in Fenham, says their calls for all groups to join together don't make any sense.
He said of the group: "You want to speak out against extremists, yet you yourself are an extremist. That's how I see it.
"We know what they are really calling to and that's not integration. What they want is complete submission of minority groups.
"Why would we stand with extremists, it's such a paradox."
German politicians, clergy and industry leaders have called PEGIDA racist and islamophobic.
Its founder and leader Lutz Bachmann resigned in January 2015 after a photograph of him posing as Adolf Hitler surfaced, which led to criminal investigations.
PEGIDA UK say they're not racist and hope to prove that at their first march.