Bürgerbewegung pro NRW

Bürgerbewegung pro NRW, also called simply Pro NRW, is a far-right populist political party in Germany that was founded in 2007. It claims to campaigns against the 'Islamisation' of North Rhine Westphalia.
Based in the the region's biggest city, Cologne (Köln), it emerged from Bürgerbewegung pro Köln and is part of a network of regional anti-Islam Pro Bürgerbewegung parties (Bürgerbewegung means 'citizens' movement' in English).
==History==
Pro NRW emerged from Bürgerbewegung pro Köln. In December 2007, Der Spiegel reported that officials feared that Pro Köln would overtake their far-right rivals, the NPD, which had traditionally sought to ally with anti-Israel Muslims. 
::With their party Pro NRW [Pro North Rhine Westphalia], which has its roots in the association "Pro Koeln," the party chiefs Markus Beisicht and Manfred Rouhs are planning their leap into the North Rhine Westphalian Landtag [regional government] for 2010. In North Rhine Westphalian municipalities, almost a dozen Pro-Koeln branches have already been founded, which want to run in the 2009 municipal elections - among others, in Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, Duesseldorf, Essen, and Bottrop. Where no new mosques are planned, we concentrate on the struggle against the existing ones, Beisicht says. The Cologne far-right populists have even set their sights on the capital: in October, functionaries had mass mails distributed in Berlin against a planned mosque in Charlottenburg and just in passing founded the civil movement Pro Deutschland [Pro Germany].German far-right trying to gain support for "anti-Islam" party, Text of report by independent German news magazine Der Spiegel website on 31 December, [Report by Andrea Brandt and Guido Kleinhubert: "Playing With Fear; Cologne Radicals Want To Enter the Parliaments With the First 'Anti-Islam Party' - Constitutional Protection Officials Are Alarmed - And so Is the NPD"], BBC Monitoring Europe - Political, 31 December 2007.
==Activities==
===2008 Cologne conference===
On 19-20 September 2008, Pro NRW, co-organised a 'Stop Islamisation' (Anti-Isamisierungs Kongress) in Cologne, with Pro Köln and Cities Against Islamisation.
It was attended by far-right representatives from Austria, Italy and Belgium. A rally on the second day of the conference was cancelled after thousands of people took part in counter-protests. The protests also meant that less than 50 delegates were able to attend the conference on the second day.Richard Heister, German citizens protest against anti-Islam congress in Cologne, Agence-France Presse, 20 September 2008.
===2009 Conference===
Pro NRW was due to host an 'anti-Islamisation conference' in Cologne on 8-10 May 2009.Anti-Islamisierungs-Kongress 2009, Pro-NRW, accessed via Web Archive 19 January 2015.
On 23 April, the Pro Köln website said that Pamela Geller, Lars Hedegaard and Paul Belien would be attending the conference.[http://www.pro-koeln-online.de/artikel09/230409_pam.htm Wilders-Vertraute Pamela Geller auf Pressekonferenz zum Anti-Islamisierungskongreß in Köln! BÜRGERBEWEGUNG PRO KÖLN E.V., 23 April 2009.
On 24 April, the conference website reported that Robert Spencer would be speaking at the event.Robert Spencer am 9. Mai in Köln, pro Köln - pro NRW Anti-Islamisierungskongress, accessed 26 April 2009. In a post on JihadWatch the same day, Spencer confirmed he had been invited but added 'I have not confirmed that I will be attending, and am looking into the group and the people involved'.Robert Spencer, Hamas-linked CAIR defames me again, again using libelblogger Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs talking points, JihadWatch, 24 April 2009. The following day Pamela Geller wrote on her blog Atlas Shrugs that she would not be going to Cologne either.Pamela Geller, THE PUNK IS PUNKED! CHARLES JOHNSON OF LITTLE GREEN FOOTBALLS SCAMMED! FALLS FOR FAUXTOGRAPHY, Atlas Shrugs, 25 April 2009.
Other scheduled participants included: 
Markus Beisicht | Judith Wolter | Henry Nitzsche | Filip Dewinter | Robert Spieler | Harald Vilimsky | Andreas Mölzer | Carl Lang | Hilda Delobel
===Links to HoGeSa violence===
A Cologne protest carried out by members of the far-right Hooligans Against Salafists (HoGeSa) on 26 October 2014 saw members engaging in violence. The demonstration had reportedly been registered with the authorities by a member of Pro NRW.'Hooligan' anti-Islamist rally in Cologne turns violent, DW.de, 26 October 2014, accessed 6 January 2015.
==Membership==
According to research carried out in 2011 by the British group Hope Not Hate, Pro NRW has around 900 membersBürgerbewegung pro NRW, Hope Not Hate, accessed 12 January 2015.
==Funding==
Swedish-German millionaire businessman Patrick Brinkmann reportedly donated 5 million Euros in 2010. He is the former leader (until 2011) of the associated Pro Berlin party and in 2011 was also international secretary of the umbrella Pro Bürgerbewegung network.The Counterjihad Movement: the global trend feeding anti-Muslim hate, Hope Not Hate, 2011, p63.
==People==
*Markus Beisicht - NRW 'party chief' in 2007
*Manfred Rouhs - NRW 'party chief' in 2007German far-right trying to gain support for "anti-Islam" party, Text of report by independent German news magazine Der Spiegel website on 31 December, [Report by Andrea Brandt and Guido Kleinhubert: "Playing With Fear; Cologne Radicals Want To Enter the Parliaments With the First 'Anti-Islam Party' - Constitutional Protection Officials Are Alarmed - And so Is the NPD"], BBC Monitoring Europe - Political, 31 December 2007..
==Affiliations==
*Freedom Party (FPÖ), Austria - 'close links'
*Vlaams Belang (VB), Belgium - 'close links'
*Bürgerbewegung pro Köln - offshoot of Pro Köln 
*Pro Bürgerbewegung
*Bürgerbewegung pro Deutschland
*Bürgerbewegung pro Berlin
==Contact==
*Website: http://pro-nrw.net/
==Notes==
Category:Counterjihad Category:Germany