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ByDavidRising The Associated Press BERLIN Thesquarearound the Cologne Cathedral was plunged into darkness Mon- day evening after the his- torical landmark in west- ern Germany shut down its lights in a silent protest of weekly rallies in Dresden against the perceived "Is- lamization" of Europe. The symbolic act came as thousands of Germans demonstrated in Cologne and several other cities against the ongoing pro- tests by the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA, which attracted its biggest crowd yet in Dresden on Monday night. Cologne Cathedral pro- vost Norbert Feldhoff, told n-tv that shutting down the lights was an attempt to make the PEGIDA demon- strators think twice about their protest. "You're taking part in an action that, from its roots and also from speeches, one can see is Nazi-ist, racist and extremist," he said on n-tv. "And you're supporting people you really don't want to support." Only about 250 PEGIDA supporters showed up in Cologne, as compared to about ten times that num- ber of counter-demonstra- tors. Similarly in Berlin, po- lice said some 5,000 coun- ter-demonstrators blocked about 300 PEGIDA support- ers from marching along their planned route from city hall to the Brandenburg Gate. Another 22,000 anti- PEGIDA demonstrators ral- lied in Stuttgart, Muenster and Hamburg, the dpa news agency reported. But PEGEIDA's main demonstration in the east- ern city of Dresden, a region that has few immigrants or Muslims, attracted some 18,000, according to police. The demonstrations there have been growing from an initial few hundred in Oc- tober to around 17,500 at a rally just before Christmas. Carrying signs with slo- gans like "wake up" the crowd chanted "we are the people" and "lying press" as they passed television cam- eras on Monday. In uncharacteristically frank words in her New Year's address, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Ger- mans to stay away from the Dresden rallies. When the PEGIDA dem- onstrators chant "we are the people," Merkel said "they actually mean 'you don't belong because of your religion or your skin." PEGIDA organizer Kath- rin Oertel slammed the speech at the rally Monday, telling the crowd "in Ger- many we have political re- pression again." "Or how would you see it when we are insulted or called racists or Nazis openly by all the political mainstream parties and media for our justified crit- icism of Germany's asylum seeker policies and the non- existent immigration pol- icy," she asked the cheering crowd. PEGIDA has sought to distance itself from the far- right, saying in its position paper posted on Facebook that it is against "preachers of hate, regardless of what religion" and "radicalism, regardless of whether reli- giously or politically moti- vated." "PEGIDA is for resistance against an anti-woman po- litical ideology that em- phasizes violence, but not against integrated Muslims living here," the group said. It has also banned any neo-Nazi symbols and slo- gans at its rallies, though critics have noted the praise and support it has received from known neo- Nazi groups. Cem Ozdemir, co-chair- man of The Greens party and himself the son of a Turkish immigrant, told n-tv that while he, too, was against any form of extrem- ism, "intolerance cannot be fought with intolerance." "The line is not between Christians and Muslims," he said. "The line is be- tween those who are intol- erant ... and the others, the majority." In Berlin, anti-PEGIDA demonstrator Ursula Woz- niak said she had joined the protest because she felt the PEGIDA group was abusing Germany's democratic tra- dition. "What is happening right now in Germany is just ex- tremely shocking," she said. PEGIDA was forced to call off its demonstration early in Cologne, after or- ganizers reported being blocked from marching along their planned route, police said. Other buildings, includ- ing several other churches and a museum, joined the Cologne Cathedral in shut- ting off their lights in sup- port of the anti-PEGIDA demonstrators. In Dresden, automaker Volkswagen decided to keep its glass-walled manufac- turing plant dark, to under- score the company "stands for an open, free and dem- ocratic society." SEVERAL CITIES Ge rm an s pr ot es t ag ai ns t an ti -I sl am r al li es JENSMEYER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A participant of a rally called 'Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West' waves a German flag during a demonstration in Dresden, Germany, on Monday. By Diaa Hadid and Bassem Mroue The Associated Press BEIRUT Lebanon turned back Syrians trying to cross the border Monday under strict new visa regulations, saying it simply cannot han- dle any more people dis- placed by the ongoing civil war. The policy, requiring Syr- ians to obtain visas that sharply limit the time they can stay in Lebanon, effec- tively narrows one of the few escape routes left from a conflict that has displaced a third of Syria's pre-war population and shows no sign of ending. Humanitarian groups dealing with Syrian refu- gees say authorities should not close the doors on peo- ple who are desperate to leave. Leading politician Walid Jumblatt said there should be difference in dealing with "refugees who are fleeing death and destruc- tion in Syria after they lost their homes," and those who come to Lebanon for political activities. "The vast majority of them left Syria because of fear of war, and they are innocent," Jumblatt said in comments published Mon- day in his party's weekly Al- Anbaa. The violence in Syria be- tween forces loyal to Pres- ident Bashar Assad and those opposed to his rule have caused more than 3 million people to flee the country, mainly to neighbor- ing Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. Western countries have only accepted small numbers of refugees, and hundreds of people have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea on rick- ety smuggler ships. More than 200,000 people have been killed since the upris- ing began in 2011. Lebanese officials say they can't absorb any more, esti- mating there are about 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon, about one-quarter of the to- tal population. Some 1.1 mil- lion are registered with the U.N.'s refugee agency. "We have enough. There's no capacity anymore to host more displaced," Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said at a televised news con- ference. Lebanese security offi- cials had no exact numbers on how many Syrians were turned back Monday at the border. The flow of Syrians through one popular cross- ing appeared to be lower than normal. In recent months, several thousand Syrians had been crossing into Lebanon ev- ery day, the officials said. There are no plans to forcibly repatriate those Syrians already in Lebanon. The changes establish new categories of entry vi- sas for Syrians — includ- ing tourism, business, edu- cation and medical care — and sharply limit the time they can stay in Lebanon. For decades, Syrians were freely given six-month visas, and many simply crossed the porous border without any paperwork. When the Syrian upris- ing turned into a civil war, hundreds of thousands poured into Lebanon. The influx overwhelmed water and power supplies, pushed up rents and depressed the economy in rural areas, where Syrians compete with impoverished Leba- nese for scarce jobs. Tent cities have sprouted in the countryside, with many of the refugees con- fined to flimsy shelters that are being buffeted by win- ter rains and snow. Public opinion has sharply turned against the Syrians, and many see them as threats to the sovereignty of Lebanon, which has long been domi- nated by its larger neighbor. Patricia Mouamar, com- munications manager at World Vision Lebanon, said the country "cannot close the door in the face of Syr- ian refugees." "It is the right of every person to seek refuge in a country that protects him from violence," she said. Lebanon has been host- ing hundreds of thou- sands of Palestinian ref- ugees since Israel's cre- ation in 1948, and their presence was a central fac- tor in the 1975-1990 Leba- nese civil war. The conflict in Syria has already esca- lated tensions between Leb- anon's Shiites and Sunnis, and many fear the influx of the mainly Sunni refugees could again aggravate its delicate sectarian balance. Lebanese border officials began informally restricting the entry of Syrians in Oc- tober, causing a 50 percent drop in people seeking to register with the U.N.'s ref- ugee agency, the UNHCR. "We are looking at these new procedures with some interest, because those pro- cedures don't make men- tion of the agreement of the government to continue to allow the most vulnera- ble cases to come through," said UNHCR's regional spokesman Ron Redmond. MIDDLE EAST Lebanon puts new limits on Syrians fleeing war HUSSEIN MALLA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A Syrian refugee woman places wood next to a stove inside her tent as she prepares for a possible snowstorm Monday at a refugee camp, in Deir Zannoun village, Lebanon. By Maggie Michael The Associated Press CAIRO Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen is surging in strength, finding new sup- port and recruits among the country's Sunni tribes- men, in a backlash to drone strikes and the rise to power of Shiite rebels who have taken over the capital and other parts of the country, tribal leaders and Yemeni officials warn. The militants' rise comes after months of be- ing squeezed by multiple challenges. Early last year, U.S. drone strikes followed by Yemeni ground troops helped Yemen destroy a key al-Qaida base in the remote mountains of the impoverished, unstable nation. The past year, al- Qaida has also faced fierce competition from the Mid- dle East's new militant powerhouse, the Islamic State group, which has sought to make inroads into Yemen. But the expansion of the Shiite rebels known as Houthis has been a god- send for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the branch of the terror net- work in Yemen is called. The turmoil in Yemen has taken on a sharply sectar- ian tone, pitting Sunnis against Shiites, to the ben- efit of Sunni al-Qaida. And while the group has lost some prominent figures in drone strikes over past years, deaths of members of prominent tribes in the strikes have pushed tribes- men toward the militants. Over the long term, the United States' years-long campaign to put down the al-Qaida branch is likely to suffer, warns Bill Rog- gio from Long War Jour- nal, which chronicles mil- itant activities. As al-Qaida gains ground locally in Yemen, that strengthens its ability to carry out attacks abroad against the United States, its main priority. "The local fuels the ex- ternal. They will become more dangerous the more they draw local support," Roggio told The Associ- ated Press. As Washing- ton's ally in Yemen, Pres- ident Abed Rabbo Hadi Mansour, gets weaker, U.S. ability to strike al- Qaida "will diminish over time after losing its part- ner," he said. Backed by deposed Pres- ident Ali Abdullah Saleh, Houthis pushed out of their enclaves in northern Yemen and took over the capital Sanaa in Septem- ber. Hadi's government has been virtually under its thumb since. Houthi forces have since spread over eight of Yemen's 21 prov- inces, taking over security powers in many cities and towns, with government officials and forces split in loyalties, either stepping aside or grudgingly coop- erating with them. At first the fight between Houthis and their oppo- nents was largely a split along political and tribal lines. But now as the Shi- ite rebels push into largely Sunni regions of central Yemen on a declared cam- paign to fight al-Qaida, the conflict has taken on a sharply sectarian nature of Sunni vs Shiite, to the ben- efit of Sunni al-Qaida. 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