"With the far-right anti-immigration National Front party, led by Marine Le Pen, having dramatically increased its influence in recent months and years, the time and the place appears right for the Pegida to take off in France.
However experts say it is unlikely to happen in a country that is home to an estimated six million Muslims - Europe’s biggest population.
Researcher and far-right specialist Jean-Yves Camus from the think-tank Iris (Institute of international relations and strategy) says the political climate is far different in France to Germany.
“In Germany Pegida benefits from a political vacuum because there is no National Front party,” Camus told France's L’Express news site.
“The German who is worried by Islam, but on the other hand isn’t racist, will not vote for the NPD, which is a neo-Nazi party.
“So they could end up among the followers of Pegida. In France, protesting with Pegida is the same as voting for the National Front,” Camus added.
However even the organisers of the protest in Paris accept their throngs are unlikely to be joined by the likes of Marine Le Pen and her allies.
The risks are simply too high, says Camus.
“The danger of joining this extremist movement is too great,” he said. “The National Front simply doesn’t need to do it. It’s already guaranteed the electoral support of these voters.”
www.thelocal.fr/20150106/anti-islam-pegida-movement-to-france
If you read between the lines you can see that this harms the Front National. It will smear them by associating them with PEGIDA which is not even a real political party, just a newly created only anti-Islamist movement one of whose founders was a criminal. It will be used to turn the people against populist opposition where Establishments face strong populist opposition.