Last weekend, some 1,700 Germans turned out for a PEGIDA rally in Cologne to protest the wave of sexual assaults that unfolded in the city on New Year’s Eve in the town center.
PEGIDA nearly faded into obscurity early last year when then-leader Lutz Bachmann posted a picture of himself dressed as Hitler on Facebook with the caption “He’s Back”, but thanks to the 1.1 million Mid-East asylum seekers that poured across Germany’s borders in 2015, the anti-immigrant group has seen something of a resurgence over the past six or so months.
While the group claims to be looking out for the interests of the German people, some draw disturbing parallels between PEGIDA and a dangerous far-right ideology linked to extreme nationalism.
Unsurprisingly, movements like PEGIDA aren’t confined to Germany. In Finland the streets are now patrolled by the The “Soldiers of Odin,” a kind of vigilante justice brigade with political overtones and the trappings of a biker gang. The men don black bomber jackets adorned with the Finnish flag and a symbol of a Viking and say they are interested in helping police keep native Finns safe. Here's one of the group's members:
Oh, no wait. That's Odin himself. Our apologies. Here are some group members:
“A group of young men founded Soldiers of Odin, named after a Norse god, late last year in the northern town of Kemi,” Reuters reports, adding that “since then the group has expanded to other towns, with members stating they want to serve as eyes and ears for the police who they say are struggling to fulfill their duties.”
Like PEGIDA, the group blames "Islamist intruders" for rising crime and members often carry signs at demonstrations with slogans like "Migrants not welcome".
As Spiegel notes, the group does have ties to nationalism and the white supremacy movement. “They want to support the police in protecting the population, not only against refugees, even [from] the Finns if they are threatening," founder Mika Ranta told the daily, in an interview. “Like other founding members he referred to, however, Mika is open as a National Socialist,” Spiegel says. “His comrades surround [themselves] with the symbolism of the White Supremacy movement [and] offshoot of the group in Joensuu in the east of the country called on Facebook a 'for a patriotic white Finland fighting organization'".
Last week, we reported that in addition to the attacks in Cologne, there were also some indications that women were accosted in Finland. “Finnish police reported Thursday an unusually high level of sexual harassment in Helsinki on New Year's Eve and said they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women,” AFP said. “Three sexual assaults allegedly took place at Helsinki's central railway station on New Year's Eve, where around 1,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers had converged.”
That doesn't surprise Mika Ranta. "The biggest issue was when we learned from Facebook that new asylum seekers were peering through the gates of primary schools, looking at young girls," he told Finnish daily Aamulehti.
The official response to the group has thus far been mixed. "Volunteering is encouraged [and] it is very good that people are interested in the domain of safety issues and want to contribute to environment safety and comfort," National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen said last week in a translated statement. "The most important task, if it is a hobby, is to act by the findings and contribute to a certain area as a preventive sooth."
Yes, police are ok with the Soliders of Odin as long as they are acting as a "preventive soothe," which presumably means they are not allowed to actually intervene on behalf of citizens, but only to report crimes.
Dan Koivulaakso, local politician and expert on rights movements in Finland isn't sold. "The leaders of the 'Soldiers of Odin' are proven to have criminal backgrounds, in cases of racist violence and other violent or drug offenses."
Finnish Interior Minister Petteri Orpo is equally skeptical. "There are extremist features to carrying out street patrols. It does not increase security,” he told national broadcaster YLE last week. "Volunteers have no right to use force," he added.
But The Soliders of Odin don't seem to agree that citizens can't use force when necessary. Here's Spiegel again:
This is exactly what is also called Odin's warriors. They say: We're just on the roads. And if somewhere there is an emergency, we are legally obliged to intervene - like any other citizen. Just look for the patrols for specific circumstances where their intervention by its own account may be required - such as in front of schools where refugees reportedly "observe" children. With their presence, the group wants to protect the children in the village.
And while the group claims it is not armed on its "patrols," Europeans are rushing to stock up on guns and, as we noted earlier this week, pepper spray to protect themselves against would-be assailants. "The number of gun permits issued has recently quadrupled in Germany and Austria after the attacks in Cologne and Salzburg, according to the weapons industry," The New York Post says.
“Women customers include waitresses that need to get home in the evening, and women that walk dogs regularly in the evenings. We are also seeing some coming in to buy them for their daughters,” Gerhard Fuchs, a gunsmith in Innsbruck, Austria, told Central European News.
Here's more from The Post:
One in three criminals in Austria are foreigners, according to 2014 figures by the Interior Ministry. In Vienna, it was almost every other criminal.
In August, fewer than 10 people obtained a license to keep a handgun at home for self-defense, while the number soared into the hundreds in October.
Franz Dorfner, who owns a gun store in Vienna, said he has been unable to keep up with demand.
“I have completely sold out of pepper spray and have to wait at least a month before they can provide me with any more,” he told Central European News.
In Salzburg, where several sex attacks were reported, store owner Constanze Dorn said she too had run out of pepper spray.
“I have never experienced anything like it,” she said. “I have ordered several hundred more. I don’t know how long they will last.”
The demand for private bodyguard services also has skyrocketed.
In Vienna, the White Wings Association is offering free professional protection after the city’s top cop warned women not to go out alone at night.
As a reminder, here's what happens when every German Googles "pepper spray":
Clearly, the situation in Europe is becoming more precarious by the day. Right-wing groups with links to Nazism are now openly "patrolling" the streets while everyone from waitresses to dog owners are now toting pistols when they venture outside.
That's probably not the environment the bloc's founders envisioned when they endeavored to create a passport-free, harmonious union.
Needless to say, this is a tinder box waiting for (another) spark, as the stage is now set for an all-out culture clash with far-reaching political and societal ramifications.