Heroic heroes heroically shout down 'racists'

The German edition of The Local reports that "thousands" turned out to counter an anti-Islamization demonstration in Cologne, Germany. Headlined "Thousands turn up to boo racists in Cologne", the lede goes on to say:

Several thousand people turned up in Cologne to protest racism and xenophobia at a far-right extremist rally in the city on Saturday.

According to Deutsche-Welle, police put the turnout at around 1,600. But they, too, know who the villains and heroes are:

Police in Cologne say about 1,600 people have protested peacefully against racism and a controversial "anti-Islam" rally held by right-wing groups that oppose the building of a large new mosque in the city.

At the heart of the matter is a plan to build a massive mosque in Germany's "Cathedral City". The mosque is big, but its minarets are still dwarfed by the spires of the city's largest churches. But what I find disturbing about this is the universal demonization of the protesters and the glorification of the counter-protesters, evident in both The Local's and Deutsche-Welle's coverage.

Reuters appears to exercise considerable editorial consistency in the captions accompanying five photos on the subject (photos viewable at the link):

A German far-right youth carries a German national flag and anti-Islamic placard during an anti-Islamic demonstration of the far-right group Pro-Cologne in the western German town of Dormagen near Cologne May 8, 2009. The group Pro-Cologne called a rally for the weekend to oppose a decision by local authorities in the nearby city of Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city and famous worldwide for its gothic Cathedral, to allow the construction of a mosque with a high dome and minarets.

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German far-right youths carry German national flags during an anti-Islamic demonstration of the far-right group Pro-Cologne in the western German town of Dormagen near Cologne May 8, 2009. The group Pro-Cologne called a rally for the weekend to oppose a decision by local authorities in the nearby city of Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city and famous worldwide for its gothic Cathedral, to allow the construction of a mosque with a high dome and minarets.

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A far-right supporter of the anti-Islamic group Pro-Cologne waves a national flag of Austria during a demonstration in the western German town of Dormagen May 8, 2009. The group Pro-Cologne called a rally for the weekend to oppose a decision by local authorities in the nearby city of Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city and famous worldwide for its gothic Cathedral, to allow the construction of a mosque with a high dome and minarets.

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A man wears a cross and the logo of France's far-right political party National Republican Movement (Mouvement National Republicain or MNR) during an anti-Islamic demonstration in the western German town of Leverkusen May 8, 2009. The group Pro-Cologne called a rally for the weekend to oppose a decision by local authorities in the nearby city of Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city and famous worldwide for its gothic Cathedral, to allow the construction of a mosque with a high dome and minarets.

The one photo of counter demonstrators carries this caption:

Anti-fascists carry a banner reading, "Europe. Germany. Cologne - De*Nationalize - it's all shit!" in front of the famous Cologne cathedral during a demonstration against the far-right anti-Islamic group Pro-Cologne May 8, 2009. Pro-Cologne called for a rally over the weekend to oppose a decision by local authorities in the nearby city of Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city and famous worldwide for its gothic Cathedral, to allow the construction of a mosque with a high dome and minarets.

Can Reuters possibly be more biased? The people protesting construction of the mosque are scary "far-right" wingnuts while the counter demonstrators are heroic "anti-fascists". Reuters further demonizes the protesters by referring to their flags as "national" flags, subliminally linking them to the "anti-fascist" exhortation to de-nationalize. And "anti-fascists"? Puh-leease. A group calling for "de-nationalization" of Cologne, Germany and Europe and calling them all "shit" is pretty obviously a fringe anarchist group.