Low turnout for far-right PEGIDA march in Netherlands

By Abdullah Asiran

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands

A march by the far-right, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant movement PEGIDA suffered from a lack of interest, as only 30 people took part in the protest on Sunday.

The small group of PEGIDA -- Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West -- members marched holding racist banners in the city of Nijmegen.

But a large group of some 200 counter-protestors from Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) sought to block the PEGIDA march until the Dutch police intervened.

Two people from the AFA were arrested, according to police.

Earlier this year, PEGIDA carried out protest stunts at the under-construction Selimiye Mosque in Veghel and an Islamic primary school in Leiden.