Pegida Netherlands

Pegida Netherlands is the Dutch branch of the German anti-Islamic political movement Pegida. The organisation is led by Edwin Wagensveld.

Pegida Netherlands

Pegida Nederland
Formation	11 October 2015
Type	Anti-Islam
Location	Netherlands
Leader	Edwin Wagensveld
Affiliations	Fortress Europe

History and activities

Pegida Netherlands leader Edwin Wagensveld speaks during a demonstration in Apeldoorn.^[1]

It had its inaugural rally on 11 October 2015 in Utrecht. Those in attendance included Lutz Bachmann, Siegfried Däbritz, and Tommy Robinson.^[2]

Pegida Netherlands is a signatory to the "Prague Declaration" as part of the international Fortress Europe coalition in January 2016.^[3][4] On 20 February 2016 Edwin Wagensveld, leader of Pegida Netherlands, was arrested for provocative behavior during a demonstration in Ede. He was in police custody for an hour.^[5] He was arrested for the second time that month on 27 February 2016 at Amsterdam city hall. He was using the Pegida logo, which shows a swastika being thrown into a trash can. The city said, "The use of swastikas will not be tolerated, even if they are included in a protest sign or other form of expression where the National Socialist ideology is rejected, or in any other manner of speech whatsoever".^[6]

In 2023, Wagensweld was prosecuted for tearing apart a Quran during a protest, calling it a "fascist book".^[7]