PEGIDA protestors in Dresden. Every Monday at least 1000-1500 people gather to protest against refugees, specially Muslim asylum seekers   After a brief conversation with his superior over the phone, one of the policemen in the van took my passport. He asked about my local address, phone number and noted the details in his palm-held notebook before handing it over to me. It was a warm summer day in Istha, a small village of some 900 residents in the district of Kassel in the state of Hesse in Germany. In front of me was a vast green field where a horse walked in the distance; the church bell tolled somewhere; the smell of barbeque wafted in the air while my feet made crushing sounds on the raw path that led to the home of the district’s President. An eerie silence surrounded the plush house. As I was not allowed to get close to…

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