Netherlands: Anti-Muslim march fails to gather interest

By Abdullah Asiran

AMSTERDAM

A rally organized on Sunday by a far-right, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant group in Amsterdam did not gather the interest it hoped to receive.

Only 50 people participated in the rally by a little-known group, Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA).

The participants marched under police escort, holding racist banners.

A group of counter-protestors from Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) attempted to block the march, resulting in the arrest of three of their members, police said.

On Saturday, PEGIDA members planted 23 crosses on a construction site for a mosque.