(MENAFN- Gulf Times) An estimated 375 people turned out for the Germany-based Pegida movement's first demonstration in Britain yesterday, but were outnumbered by a 2,000-strong crowd of counter-protesters, police said.
Pegida has drawn large crowds in Germany to protest against what it calls the "Islamisation" of Europe, and small demonstrations have also taken place in Austria and Sweden.
Police in the city of Newcastle, northeast England, said five men were arrested during the day's events but insisted these were isolated incidents, and said both the Pegida march and the Newcastle Unites protest passed off smoothly.
It was not clear from which sides the five arrested men came from. Their alleged offences included assault, being drunk and disorderly, and breach of the peace.
Extra police had been deployed in the city, which was also hosting a Premier League football match between Newcastle United and Aston Villa, and had kept the two sides apart.
One steward said there was a brief scuffle involving members of far-right groups which temporarily damaged Pegida's PA system, but no wider disturbances.
"Both demonstrations passed without any problems," police chief duperintendent Laura Young said.
Pegida's spokeswoman in Britain, Marion Rogers, earlier insisted that the group was not racist or against Muslims.
It's about integration. We are not anti-Islam. We are not here to split up any communities," she told the BBC.
"We've invited Muslims to join us against extremism, extremism of any kind. I don't think it's wrong to stand up to terrorism. Is that hate?"
Pegida - which stands for the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West - drew up to 25,000 people in German street rallies last month.
Among those attending the counter-rally in Newcastle was left-wing firebrand lawmaker George Galloway.
"It is absolutely extraordinary that a German organisation sets up in the UK - it's not as if there is a lack of right-wing nutter organisations here," he said beforehand.
"They have got to be opposed, wherever they are."
The English Defence League, a homegrown British group that protested against the perceived threat from Islamic extremism, held a number of protests throughout 2013, which often ended in clashes with anti-fascist demonstrators.
But the group has lost momentum since its leader Tommy Robinson quit in October that year, saying he could no longer keep "extremist elements" in the group at bay.
Home Secretary Theresa May has insisted the Government remains committed to reducing immigration, despite breaking its promise to keep it down.
According to new figures net migration to the UK has risen to 298,000, well above the level David Cameron promised to reduce it to when he came to power in 2010.
In a speech to a party conference in Cardiff today, May admitted the figures were "disappointing" and blamed a rise in EU migration as well as Liberal Democrat "constraints".
She said: "The numbers have gone up. The British people and the Government - well, the Conservative Party - want them to come down.
"Back in 2010 we said we wanted to get annual net migration down from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands. Thanks to net migration from the European Union, which has doubled over the last five years, and thanks to our coalition partners, we haven't been able to go as far as we'd like.
"So we haven't met that objective, but be in no doubt we remain committed to reducing immigration."
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