Source: BBC
The founder of Germany’s anti-Islamist Pegida movement has gone on trial in Dresden on hate speech charges.
Lutz Bachmann, 43, is accused of inciting racial hatred in Facebook posts, in which he called refugees “cattle”, “scumbags” and “filth”.
Pegida’s rallies have attracted thousands of supporters in Germany.
Separately, police arrested five suspects near Dresden accused of attacking migrant hostels and plotting far-right, anti-immigrant terror.
Tuesday’s police raid in Freital, involving a GSG9 anti-terror unit, was not linked to the trial.
Investigators suspect four men and a woman, aged from 18 to 40, of far-right violence against migrants. Three other men were arrested last November.
The group is suspected of targeting refugee accommodation in Freital and a left-wing housing project in Dresden with explosive devices in attacks last autumn. Investigators found a cache of banned firecrackers considered so dangerous that the group is suspected of attempted murder.
Image copyrightAFPThe group is also linked to attacks on a left-wing councillor’s car as well as a party office in Dresden.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said authorities had dealt a “powerful blow to a regional right-wing terrorist group”.
Categories: Germany, Racism, The Muslim Times