Merkel To Join March For Tolerance, Says 'Islam Belongs To Germany'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and most of her Cabinet are set to join on Tuesday a rally for an "open and tolerant Germany" arranged by Muslim leaders amid the country's growing anti-Islam movement.

"Germany wants peaceful coexistence of Muslims and members of other religions" and Tuesday's vigil would send "a very strong message," said Merkel in a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Berlin.

Opposing the movement Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (P.E.G.I.D.A.), whose demonstration in Dresden on Monday was attended by over 25,000 supporters after attacks in France by Islamic militants, Merkel emphasized ahead of such rally that "Islam belongs to Germany," a report by Aljazeera read.

Merkel thanked leaders of the country's four million-strong Muslim community for condemning the attacks in Paris allegedly committed in the name of their faith. Almost two in every three of the Muslim population in Germany are of Turkish origin, and roughly half are German citizens, according to Reuters.

Tuesday's vigil, which will start at 17:00 GMT at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, has been organized by the Central Council of Muslims in Germany under the banner "Let's be there for each other. Terror: not in our name!"

"We Muslims in Germany condemn the despicable terror attacks in France in the strongest terms. We want to express our solidarity with the French victims," said the Muslim Council and the Turkish Community of Berlin in announcing the event. "There is no justification in Islam for such acts."

"Those who use racist and Islamophobic slogans strengthen the rabble-rousers, inciters of hatred and terrorists," the Gulf Times quoted organizers as saying.

Some 100,000 people also marched nationwide on Monday to counter P.E.G.I.D.A.'s 12th weekly rally -- the biggest so far in terms of the number of protesters, accusing the group of taking advantage of the killings in France and expressed their support for a multicultural Germany.

P.E.G.I.D.A.'s protests have been fueled with the huge increase in refugees seeking political asylum in Germany. Last year, the country receiving over 180,000 asylum applications, up by 57 percent from 2013, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Somalia.

On Sunday, Merkel joined French President Francois Hollande and other world leaders in a solidarity rally in the wake of the attack at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a hostage siege, and a separate shooting, Aljazeera reported.