Immigration News 2015: Anti-Islam Movement Spreads To Denmark As Protesters Demand Tougher Immigration Policy

More than one in eight Danish voters want a party more critical of immigration than the already-hardliner Danish People's Party (DF) as the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) movement spreads to Denmark.

A survey showed that 13 percent of voters said they wish there was a party that would push for harder immigration policy, according to Denmark's The Local.

One in five among the so-called "blue bloc" voters or supporters of Denmark's right-of-center opposition parties said he or she wants a party with a tougher stance on the matter.

The DF did not seem to be worried about the results of the poll. "We are who we are, and we do what we do. If someone doesn't like it, they can vote for another party," party spokesman Søren Espersen told Jyllands-Posten, as quoted by The Local.

But the new survey might actually be beneficial to the DF. "I think that the Danish People's Party is very satisfied with that poll even though nearly 13 percent say that they wish there was a more immigrant-critical party. Because when the voters stand there in the ballot booth, there is only DF to vote for. It's grist for their mill as long as there aren't any other alternatives out there," Troels Mylenberg, the editor-in-chief of local newspaper Fyns Amts Avis, was quoted as saying.

The poll results came in the same week that Denmark held its first PEGIDA demonstration, which started in the German city of Dresden.

Some 200 people joined the march, carrying torches and placards. They also sang a Norwegian song titled "Surrounded by Enemies," the melody that Norway sang in September 2011 for the victims of Anders Breivik. In that incident, eight people in Oslo were murdered with a car bomb by Breivik while 69 more were killed with an assault rifle.

Protesters stopped singing when they noticed some Muslims in the crowd, who were pushed out.

Meanwhile, counter-demonstrators in Norrebro, described by The Local as a "predominantly immigrant district," held up signs saying "Refugees and Muslims are welcome."

"I think PEGIDA is using an opportunity to spread hatred and racism in Denmark and I'm against that," said Pernille Cauchi, who joined the opposing protest.

"Somebody has to stand up to this," said Dorthe Guldfeld. "There are not so many extremists, you know, but every time there is something all Muslims are blamed. All Muslims have to explain themselves -- and that's not fair."