The leader of Germany’s anti-Muslim, anti-Immigrant movement called “Pegida” has stepped down after an uproar over hate-filled comments, but probably more because of the revelation of a photo showing him dressed up as nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Lutz Bachmann apologized for his “ill-considered” comments on social media in which he called refugees “animals” and “scumbags” (funny, I say the same things about nazis), but he did not bother to mention the photo of him with Hitler-style hair and a toothbrush moustache.  A Pegida spokeswoman say the Hitler photo was a “joke” and “satire, which is every citizen’s right”. 

“Anyone in politics who poses as Hitler is either a total idiot or a Nazi” said Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.  “Reasonable people do not follow idiots, and decent people don’t follow Nazis.”

All this went down as Pegida – which is a German acronym for “Patriotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West” – shifted their rallies from Dresden to Leipzig.  Police in Dresden had stopped all marches after an unspecified threat to Pegida’s leadership.  The group called out its supporters to march in Leipzig – also a city of the former East Germany, and like Dresden with a relatively small Muslim population .

Last week in Leipzig, around 4,800 Pegida marchers were completely outnumbered by more than 30,000 counter-demonstrators.  This week is different, because the Dresden group is believed to have traveled to Leipzig, and some estimates put at least 15,000 people from both sides of the issue on the streets for the Wednesday night demonstrations.