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Cologne cathedral to switch off lights in protest at anti-Muslim march

March by Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West is latest in a series of anti-Muslim protests in Germany

Cologne Cathedral at night. Photograph: Corbis

Reuters in Cologne

Friday 2 January 201523.24 AEST

Cologne Cathedral, one of Germany’s most famous landmarks, will be plunged into darkness on Monday evening in protest at a march by a grassroots anti-Muslim movement through the western German city.

The rise of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida) has shaken the political establishment, prompting the chancellor, Angela Merkel, to warn in her new year address that its leaders were racists full of hatred and citizens should beware being used.

The group’s last weekly rally in the eastern city of Dresden attracted an estimated 17,000 people. It plans to hold further marches in other cities.

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