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Sep 20

Written by: Diana West
Saturday, September 20, 2008 10:35 AM 

Gates of Vienna posts initial reports out of Europe regarding the anarchy surrounding the anti-Islamization event going on in Cologne, Germany this weekend. Background by me  here and here.

Update: More information here and here.

(Meanwhile, back in the Dutch parliament....)

Double update: Looks as if the anti-Islamization event is already over before it began as thousands of counter-protestors successfully shut down Saturday's  political rally after German police balked at enforcing freedom to assemble and speak. Details remain sketchy but it's already quite clear who won the day: Iran, which had demanded the EU outlaw the event  in the first place. From one press report today:

Iran demanded that Germany prohibit it in advance, but German police and lawyers said it could not be banned purely because of the opinions to be expressed. The last-minute ban was justified by the danger to the rightists.

"We can't allow a few hundred people to deliberately enter a battleground," a police spokesman said. Police chief Klaus Steffenhagen added, "It would have been excessive to deploy water cannon and special units to fight a way into the square for 300 participants.

"Pro Cologne voiced outrage at the ban. Its secretary, Markus Wiener, said, "It's typical of the Cologne police leadership that they can't enforce freedom of assembly and that they cave in to street terrorism."Wiener said his group had had 1,000 supporters trying to attend the rally.

 

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