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German Government Sees Far Right Behind Anti-Islam Protests


FILE - Protesters hold a banner reading "Without violence and united against religious wars on German soil - Pegida" during a rally in Dresden, eastern Germany, Nov. 2, 2015.
FILE - Protesters hold a banner reading "Without violence and united against religious wars on German soil - Pegida" during a rally in Dresden, eastern Germany, Nov. 2, 2015.

The German government says far-right extremists are behind offshoots of the anti-Islam group PEGIDA in six of the country's 16 states.

The government says far-right extremists were found to be “steering or influencing” groups in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.

Saxony, where the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West began staging protests more than a year ago, wasn't among those states.

PEGIDA has denied it is influenced to far-right extremists, though neo-Nazis are visibly present at its weekly demonstrations in Dresden.

The government response to a parliamentary query was first published Wednesday by German daily Thueringer Allgemeine.

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