German anti-racists counter racists

This video from Germany says about itself:

5 January 2015

Germany switches off lights in protest against anti-Islam PEGIDA group.

On it, you can see how the lights of the cathedral of Cologne were shut down, as a protest against a Pegida demonstration.

From Associated Press:

Germans take to the streets to oppose rise of far-right ‘Pinstripe Nazi‘ party

Anti-Pegida rallies in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne and Dresden target racism and xenophobia to instead promote a message of tolerance

Monday 5 January 2015 23.47 GMT

Thousands of Germans demonstrated in four cities on Monday in opposition to the weekly rallies in Dresden against the perceived “Islamization” of Europe which have attracted growing numbers of supporters.

Organizers of the demonstrations in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne and Dresden said they were rallying against racism and xenophobia to instead promote a message of tolerance.

Businesses, churches, the city Cologne’s power company and others kept their buildings and other facilities dark in solidarity with the demonstrations against the ongoing protests by the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or Pegida.

The square around the Cologne Cathedral was plunged into darkness as thousands joined the demonstration. Cologne Cathedral provost Norbert Feldhoff, told n-tv that shutting down the lights was an attempt to make the Pegida demonstrators think twice about their protest.

“You’re taking part in an action that, from its roots and also from speeches, one can see is Nazi-ist, racist and extremist,” he said on n-tv. “And you’re supporting people you really don’t want to support.”

Only about 250 Pegida supporters showed up in Cologne, as compared to about ten times that number of counter-demonstrators. Similarly in Berlin, police said some 5,000 counter-demonstrators blocked about 300 Pegida supporters from marching along their planned route from city hall to the Brandenburg Gate. Another 22,000 anti-Pegida demonstrators rallied in Stuttgart, Muenster and Hamburg, the dpa news agency reported.

But Pegida’s main demonstration in the eastern city of Dresden, a region that has few immigrants or Muslims, attracted some 18,000, according to police.

…

In Berlin, anti-Pegida demonstrator Ursula Wozniak said she had joined the protest because she felt the Pegida group was abusing Germany’s democratic tradition.

“What is happening right now in Germany is just extremely shocking,” she said.

Pegida was forced to call off its demonstration early in Cologne, after organizers reported being blocked from marching along their planned route, police said.

Other buildings, including several other churches and a museum, joined the Cologne Cathedral in shutting off their lights in support of the anti-Pegida demonstrators.