Protest Against Islamist Extremism In Cologne:  Much Less Than Meets The Eye

The other day there was another of those much-ballyhooed demonstrations "against Islamic extremism" by Muslims (and their non-Muslim friends), this one in Cologne, Germany, under the title "Nicht Mit Uns," Not With Us. (Otherwise expressed: Count Me Out.) It was billed as a march against Islamist extremism. The organizers were confident that at least ten thousand people would show up and publicly said so. After all, Cologne is a city of more than a million people, with more than 140,000 Muslims in the city itself, and another hundred thousand within easy commute of the city. How difficult would it be to get 10,000 of them to show up?

As it turned out, very difficult indeed. Instead of 10,000, there were anywhere from a few hundred to as many as one thousand. A great disappointment. For if there were not even a tenth of the number predicted, and assuming — as the photographs of the rally certainly indicate — there were many non-Muslims among the rally attendees, then something like one out of every 500 Muslims in Cologne and its immediate neighborhood showed up. That's not a stirring demonstration against "Islamist extremism."