German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the anti-Islam movement "PEGIDA", which broke out in the country, following the Sydney café siege earlier this month, she said that her country will keep offering help to migrants seeking refuge in Germany, according to German website Deutsche Welle. In her address to the nation to be aired on New Year's Eve, Merkel warned citizens against the initiators of the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement. She added, "Do not follow people who organize these, for their hearts are cold and often full of prejudice, and even hate." Merkel said that Germany has received more than 200,000 applications from asylum seekers this year, which makes it the country accepting the largest number of refugees in the world, and this is something they should be proud of, according to Merkel. In past few weeks, anti-Islam protests broke out in Dresden, the capital of the Free State of Saxony, organized by a movement named patriotic Europeans against Islamizing the west, PEGIDA, which was triggered by the Sydney café siege on December 16. Merkel described this movement as discriminating against people with different skin color or religion.
