Neo-Nazi and far-right protests against immigration are not unusual in modern Germany. But a new, swelling movement by non-Nazi “moderates” against the “Islamization” of Germany has recently taken thousands by storm.

The Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (pegida) movement has protested every Monday night since October, primarily against Muslim immigration. The demonstrations began in the city of Dresden in former East Germany, and they were started by Dresden local, Lutz Bachamann, who possessed no prior background in politics. The few hundred supporters he persuaded to join him in October have swelled to about 10,000 as of last Monday.

On its Facebook page, pegida asserts that it “refuses to allow the spread of activities by groups such as [the Islamic State] and al Qaeda in Europe.” On the streets, pegida protesters brave freezing temperatures and wave slogans declaring some of their objectives: “Against religious wars on German soil,” “Against religious fanaticism,” and “For the preservation of our culture.”

Other slogans proclaimed, “We are the people.” These are the words demonstrators chanted beginning Oct. 9, 1989, during the 1989-1990 Monday-night protests that preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of East Germany’s socialist government.

pegida has vowed to continue demonstrating every Monday until its objectives are fulfilled.

The protests have inspired similar demonstrations across Germany, from Berlin to Düsseldorf, Hanover to Munich.

What is most alarming about these protests is the level of support they are receiving from “moderate” mainstream Germans. The leader of the fledgling Alternative for Germany party (AfD), Bernd Lucke, for example, is known more as a bookish economist than a far-right agitator. Yet he has publicly praised the protests as “good and right.” Of course, some on the far right have turned out in support. But the protests, as the Telegraph reported, “feature no neo-Nazi slogans and have nothing to do with the traditional far-right.”

Germany is second only to the United States as the most favored destination for immigrants in the world, and the infiltration of Muslims and Islam in Germany is disconcerting many Germans. Some of the Germans taking to the streets have specifically targeted Salafist Muslims who intend to introduce some facets of sharia law in German communities.

The protests also came at a time when the Bavarian ruling party, the Christian Social Union (csu), privately proposed a stipulation on immigrants to speak German not only in public, but in homes as well. The csu is now working to distance itself from that proposal.

Anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany is a huge embarrassment for some Germans. Ashamed of the protests, some government officials have maligned pegida and lumped it with openly neo-Nazi extremists. Some citizens have organized counter-protests against pegida. While a significant number of right-wing elements have indeed embedded themselves into the pegida movement, it is misleading to characterize pegida entirely as a neo-Nazi movement. In fact, pegida has sought to dissociate itself from extreme-right movements. There is an apparent hesitance to accept that most of the these anti-immigration/anti-Islamist demonstrations are not mere fringe protests but mainstream movements as well. But that is the reality.

Germany and Europe have reason to fret about an Islamist incursion. Here is one example: On December 6, a contract jihadist weapons maker calling himself Muslim al-Britani tweeted, “A radioactive device has entered somewhere in Europe.” The device was supposedly assembled from radioactive material that Islamic State militants raided from Mosul University in July.

“Maybe Britani is lying, and maybe he’s not,” assessed former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin. “But Western officials would be foolish to assume that just because something hasn’t happened yet, it won’t. The terrorist groups have the motivation and, thanks to post-withdrawal vacuum created in Iraq, the means to strike the West like never before.”

Rubin continued: “Perhaps it’s also time to recognize that open borders and successful counterterrorism are mutually exclusive. It’s a lesson that might fly in the face of Obama’s ideology, but reality will always trump political spin.”

Watch the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West. The group’s Monday-night protests are expected to grow as the “spread of activities by groups such as [the Islamic State] and al Qaeda in Europe” continues. Watch for anti-immigration and anti-Islamist movements gaining traction among the far right, the far left and those in the middle.

Daniel 11:40 reveals a European “king of the north” fighting against an Islamist “king of the south” just prior to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. That time is soon upon us. For more insight into this climactic battle, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “The Whirlwind Prophecy.”