The German anti-Muslim and immigrant group PEGIDA has been thrown into further disarray as it loses its second leader in one week.
Kathrin Oertel and another board member have resigned, the group announced on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
Oertel said she was quitting "due to the massive hostility, threats and career disadvantages," adding, "Even the strongest of women has to take time out when at night photographers and other strange figures are sneaking around outside her house."
The 37-year-old mother of three took over from the group’s founder after he stepped down over media pressure.
PEGIDA is a German acronym which stands for the “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West.”
According to the group, the other board member was dealing with massive problems because his business was losing public contracts.
The group’s founder and initial leader, Lutz Bachmann, a convicted thief, resigned last week following public outrage over a front-page photo of him posing as Adolf Hitler, published in the German daily Bild.
The picture, which was taken two years ago, showed Bachmann looking vengefully into the camera while wearing a toothbrush mustache and having combed the bulk of his hair to one side as used the German despot.
The number of group’s supporters started to subside following the revelations about Bachmann with weekly protesters numbers dropping from 25,000 to 17,500.
Protests initiated by the group used to attract thousands of protesters, but they recently become vastly outnumbered by tens of thousands of counter-demonstrators stressing that Germany is a multicultural country that welcomes immigrants.
PEGIDA’s latest protests were overwhelmed by counter-rallies across the country and a rock concert on Monday.
Over 22,000 Germans took part in an anti-PEGIDA rally and a concert held by German rock groups in Dresden, where the far-right group has been holding weekly rallies since October.
Over 15,000 anti-PEGIDA demonstrators gathered in Frankfurt to outnumber the 70 PEGIDA protesters, Reuters reported.
Also on Monday, more than 2,300 demonstrators showed up to an anti-PEGIDA rally in Munich against an 800-man PEGIDA gathering.
And in Berlin, 500 pro-PEGIDA protesters were met with over 1,000 counter-protesters.
The PEGIDA movement, which is a staunch opponent of Muslims and asylum seekers, began to launch rallies in October.
