09/14/2015
Not all Europeans have been lobotomized through emotional propaganda about suffering Syrians (90 percent Muslim) or the dubious charms of Islamic diversity. Over the weekend, a number of cities saw protests against the flood of Muslim refugees and economic opportunists seeking to plunder the wealthy first world nations.
Citizens marched against the governmentâs open borders policy in Heidenau Germany, a site of earlier protests against a refugee center.
Eastern Europeans seem to be a little more realistic about diversity and liberal ideology. Perhaps communism and proximity to Islam, as in the Balkans, have played a part in that attitude. Plus, Eastern Europe is poor, and canât afford thousands of illegal gimmigrants passing through.
Thousands flock to anti-migrant demos in E.Europe, Samaa TV, September 12, 2015
BRATISLAVA: Thousands of people joined anti-migrant protests in three eastern European capitals on Saturday after leaders from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia opposed an EU scheme to fix refugee quotas.
In the Polish capital Warsaw, nearly 5,000 people, many chanting anti-Islamic slogans, marched through the city, an AFP correspondent said. âIslam will be the death of Europeâ, one of the banners said.
Organisers claimed the demonstration drew 10,000 people but police refused to confirm the figure.
âWeâre here so that the government hears our voice and abandons any plans to welcome Muslims,â shouted one of the organisers after starting the march with prayers which identified the participants as Roman Catholics.
Members of far-right fringe parties and football supporters chanted âPoles against migrantsâ and âMigrants today, terrorists tomorrowâ.
Another thousand or so joined a âWelcome refugeesâ rally in favour of hosting migrants in Poland, a strongly Catholic EU member state which has a population of 38 million and has seen hardly any newcomers arriving, despite Europe experiencing its biggest movement of people since World War II.
âMy dutyâ âI became a refugee when I had to flee Warsaw as the Germans invaded during the war,â 80-year-old Danuta Chomiak told AFP as she marched with the crowd. âI have a duty to be here today.â
Around 1,500 anti-migrant protestors also rallied in the Slovak capital Bratislava, some holding up banners reading: âYouâre not welcome here so go homeâ, an AFP correspondent said.
Another said: âMulticulturalism is a utopia, donât open the bordersâ.
The rally was organised by the far-right âOur Slovakiaâ party, led by Marian Kotleba.
Unlike neighbouring Austria and Hungary, Slovakia â a eurozone member of 5.4 million people â has seen few migrant arrivals this summer.
Police in the Czech capital Prague said some 800 people protested against the arrival of refugees and migrants, holding up banners saying: âSend them back!â and âProtect the bordersâ.
Demonstrators called on the Czech government to resign and for a withdrawal from the European Union which it joined in 2004.
Elsewhere another 200 people staged a counter-demonstration in support of welcoming refugees in the Czech Republic, which has a population of 10.5 million and has seen few new arrivals in recent months.
All poorer members of the EU, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on Friday ruled out accepting refugees under a compulsory quota system outlined by the European Commission, rejecting German pleas for European solidarity in tackling the crisis.
The European Unionâs 28 interior ministers are to meet on Monday to discuss a the EC plan which involves a quota system for distributing 160,000 refugees around the bloc. â AFP