Dresden - The leaders of Germany's growing anti-Islam movement, Pegida, said they planned to hold more rallies in the eastern city of Dresden next week after their latest protest march was banned by police due to a terrorist threat.
“We don't want to see free speech and the right to assemble taken away from us,” said Kathrin Oertel on Monday, hours before the latest rally had been due to take place.
Oertel is the co-founder of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida).
The movement, which is also critical of immigration, has continued to stage increasingly popular weekly rallies in Dresden, despite growing criticism from political leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel.
About 25,000 Pegida supporters marched through Dresden's streets last week, in the wake of the deadly terrorists' attacks in Paris.
Monday's march was banned because of “a concrete threat” against its participants, police said.
New anti-Islam and anti-immigrant protests have nevertheless been planned for Monday in other German cities, including Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf and Leipzig.
Pegida's leaders insist the movement is not xenophobic.
“We don't want a revolution,” Oertel told a press conference in Dresden.
“We want a different relationship between political leaders and people,” said Oertel, adding that Pegida had raised issues that were “very difficult to speak about in Germany.”
The movement has laid out a six-point plan for the nation, which includes a more selective approach to immigration and steps to bar Islamists and religious fanatics from entering Germany.
One protest movements expert, however, believes that Pegida has reached its highpoint and will disappear soon.
“We have seen Pegida's highpoint and it may have already passed that mark,” said Dieter Rucht of the Social Science Research Centre in Berlin. “Pegida will lose gradually lose momentum.”
Meanwhile, more anti-Pegida protests were expected to take place in Munich, Berlin and Dusseldorf and Leipzig on Monday.
Last week, almost 100 000 people marched in cities across Germany in support of tolerance and against the Pegida movement.
Sapa-dpa