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German PEGIDA Leader Resigns After Hitler Pose Prompts Investigation


FILE - Lutz Bachmann of anti-immigration group PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) speaks during a demonstration in Dresden, Dec. 15, 2014.
FILE - Lutz Bachmann of anti-immigration group PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) speaks during a demonstration in Dresden, Dec. 15, 2014.

The leader of the fast-growing German anti-Muslim movement PEGIDA resigned on Wednesday after a photo of him posing as Hitler — and reports that he called refugees "scumbags" — prompted prosecutors to investigate him for inciting hatred.

"Yes, I can confirm that Lutz Bachmann has offered his resignation and it was accepted," another PEGIDA co-founder, Kathrin Oertel, told Reuters. She added: "PEGIDA will go on."

Bachmann, a 41-year-old convicted burglar, had appeared on the front page of top-selling daily newspaper Bild on Wednesday sporting a Hitler moustache and haircut. Bild and another paper said he had called aslyum-seekers "animals" and "scumbags".

Oertel said his resignation had nothing to do with the Hitler photo but was linked to comments posted on the internet.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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