Berlin, March 23 (RHC)-- Huge crowds across the world have taken part in a series of rallies to condemn what they see as rising racism and fascism in the United States and Western states.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in world capitals to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and voice their outrage at the growing wave of racism and fascism.

In Germany, a protest rally was held against PEGIDA, an anti-Islam movement, with the demonstrators also protesting the marginalization of immigrants in the country. Greek activists also staged an anti-racism march in Athens, protesting against the activities of Golden Dawn, a far-right neo-Nazi political party, as well as police brutality against the African-American community in the United States.

In Ferguson in the U.S. state of Missouri, protesters called for an end to racial profiling and brutality by police forces. Similar demonstrations were also held in Scotland, Ireland, England and France.

Many rights organizations have warned of a recent escalation of hatred, racism and Islamophobia in the U.S. and Europe. They say people are fed up with media silence over the killings of Muslims and Blacks. Some rival demonstrations were also held by far-right groups in some European cities calling for the expulsion of immigrants.

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was first designated and established by the UN in 1960, in response to the murder of 69 anti-apartheid demonstrators in South Africa.

The United Nations General Assembly later proclaimed the day in 1966 and urged the global community to do its utmost to uproot all forms of racial discrimination.