BERLIN – Cologne is bracing for violence this weekend as far-right supporters from all over Europe gather for an “anti-Islamification congress” and rally defending the continent against an “immigrant invasion.”
The congress, opening Friday, is being organized by the far-right Pro-Koeln (For Cologne), which hopes 1,500 people will attend the high point of the two-day congress, a rally in the city center starting at noon (1000 GMT) on Saturday.
Police say they expect several hundred and plan to deploy around 3,000 officers to prevent and break up any clashes in the city center’s narrow cobbled streets and alleyways.
Clashes are expected since Cologne’s mayor hopes to gather 40,000 to 60,000 people in one of the 20 or so planned counter-demos that are also expected to attract supporters from other European countries.
Mayor Fritz Schramma, whose city council recently gave the green light for the construction in Cologne of what will be one of Europe’s biggest mosques, has called on the city’s inhabitants to show the far-right “the cold shoulder.”
“Shut your windows and doors, lower your shutters ... Make it clear to Pro-Koeln and its camarilla: you are not welcome in Cologne,” Schramma said in a statement. “Cologne is a city for Christians and Muslims, for people with and without religion. Our city is renowned for its variety and its tolerance ... Populist right-wing rat catchers openly in favour of exclusion and who stir up fear are not welcome here,” he said.
He also called for demonstrators to refrain from violence.
Those attending the congress include Filip Dewinter, head of Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Belang party, and Andreas Moelzer, the Euro MP once ejected from Austria’s Freedom Party for being too extreme.
Also adding his support to what organizers call Europe’s “shared, thousand-year history”, identity and “Western values and Christian traditions” will be Mario Borghezio from Italy’s anti-immigration Northern League.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the veteran head of France’s financially stricken National Front who has several past convictions for racist and anti-Semitic outbursts, has declined an invitation to attend, however.
The United States embassy issued a statement advising Americans to “defer non-essential travel to Cologne at this time.” – AFP