Merkel, anti-Muslim marches, tolerance

In Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for tolerance as anti-Muslim marches pick up pace in the streets. Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Monday to protest the religion after the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and the bombing of a newspaper in Hamburg that reproduced some of the Mohammed cartoons that the Paris publication had printed in the past. Merkel has advised citizens to avoid the anti-Islam marches in an effort to keep peace, but many German citizens are angry at Islamic radicals who are attempting to change the way that the Western world thinks and acts. Many protestors carried signs which read je suis Charlie, while others had displays that said they can’t kill our freedom or we are the people.

A few at the anti-Islam protests have carried signs of Chancellor Merkel wearing an Islamic facial veil because she has called for tolerance, and some see her as being sympathetic to Muslims. When Merkel spoke with the press she stated “Germany wants peaceful co-existence of Muslims and members of other religions.” Some of blamed France for the Charlie Hebdo attack because the country allowed Muslims to set up no go zones, which are completely Muslim and are ruled by Sharia law. In these neighborhoods French police and emergency services are not welcome and they do not go, allowing the Muslims in the neighborhoods complete control. Some criticize that in these areas it is common to see radical clerics on public television sets recruiting jihadists without any penalty at all.