Anti-Islam PEGIDA Rally in Austria
Approximately 250 people marched in the Austrian capital on Monday, carrying the country’s national flags and chanting: “We are the people!” They were met by a roughly equal number of counter-demonstrators, who shouted: “Down with PEGIDA.”
The faceoff between the sides was avoided with a heavy police presence. One thousand two hundred officers had been deployed to maintain public order in Vienna. There were no incidents or arrests during the rally, an Austrian police spokesman told Reuters.
Around half a million Muslims currently reside in Austria, which has a population of 8.5 million mostly of Roman Catholic faith.
Islamophobia has recently become an important topic in Austria after a series of attacks on Muslim women wearing head scarves in Vienna. The incidents occurred following an announcement which stated that over 170 people from Austria went to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside the ISIL terrorists.
Source: RT
