A Muslim "peace march" against terrorism has been held in the German city of Cologne but has drawn fewer participants than organizers had hoped for.
The dpa news agency reported that a few hundred people gathered for the demonstration Saturday, with placards such as "Together against terror" and "Hatred makes the earth hell," and the crowd later grew to over 1,000.
The organizers had expected several thousand protesters.
The country's biggest Islamic association had refused to take part in the march. The Turkish-Islamic Union argued it would send the wrong signal by suggesting that international terrorism is mainly a Muslim problem. It also said Muslims observing the Ramadan fast couldn't be expected to march for hours in summer temperatures.
That stance drew criticism from the government, which welcomed the march.
xTheBigDubx on June 17th, 2017 at 23:39 UTC »
About as disappointing as the turn out to my Garage Sale this morning. Hour and a half and still no one.
MindIfIAskAQuestion on June 17th, 2017 at 20:04 UTC »
It's worth mentioning that the DITIB is a german pro-Erdogan organisation financed by Erdogans party, last year they organized a 40.000-50.000 people pro-Erdogan rally in cologne, this week they told turks in germany that they should not attend the anti-extremism rally...
tl;dr
ERDOGAN CAN GO SUCK A BIG OLD DONKEY DICKNegativeNuances on June 17th, 2017 at 18:55 UTC »
Yeah, if you take a stance against extremism within your own culture, it's somehow sending the wrong message./s