“Pegida,” which stands for Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes [Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West] is a far-right extremist, anti-Islam pan-European political movement. Founded in late 2014 by Dresden PR specialist Lutz Bachmann, its goals are to drastically curb immigration to Germany. The movement’s popularity surged during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-2016 and attracted supporters in the eastern part of Germany in particular; Dresden remains its center. But protests also emerged in the western part of Germany. In January 2015, Pegida supporters had to cancel their rally in Cologne, where thousands of demonstrators showed solidarity with migrants. However, thousands of anti-Islamists showed up in the city of Dresden a few days later.