German anti-Islam group PEGIDA's leader steps down after Hitler pose

The leader of Germany's anti-Islam movement PEGIDA, Lutz Bachmann, said Wednesday he would step down after a picture emerged that showed him sporting a Hitler-style haircut and moustache.

"Yes, I am stepping down from the board," he was quoted as telling Bild daily in an online report, while PEGIDA spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel said: "Yes, I can confirm the report".

A photo of Bachmann, 41, looking like Adolf Hitler surfaced Wednesday, sparking a storm of protest and raising fresh questions about the group's alleged extremist leanings.

The leader of an the movement provoked a firestorm Wednesday after a picture surfaced showing him with a Hitler mustache and hair combed over like the Fuehrer.

Top-selling Bild newspaper published the photo of Lutz Bachmann, co-founder of the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA on its front page.

Bild quoted him as saying he had posted the picture on his Facebook page, apparently some time ago, as a joke.

If it was a joke, nobody was laughing.

"Anyone in politics who poses as Hitler is either a total idiot or a Nazi," Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Bild, taking the opportunity to reiterate the government's call for people to stay away from PEGIDA's weekly demonstrations in Dresden.

PEGIDA's regular weekly rally in Dresden was canceled Monday after police said authorities had monitored a Tweet calling for one of the organizers to be killed. The week before, PEGIDA attracted 25,000 people at its largest rally since they started in October.