German anti-migrant march draws highest turnout,opponents rally A record 18,000 people turned out Monday for an anti-immigrant rally by a right-wing populist movement, ignoring a call by Chancellor Angela Merkel to snub such street protests. Thousands also joined counter-demonstrations in several cities against the "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident", or PEGIDA group, whose weekly protests have been condemned by church, business and political leaders.