Several hundred people joined rallies organized by the new protest alliance Together for Germany in cities throughout the nation on Saturday, with some facing counter-demonstrations.
The new alliance is in favour of nationwide border controls and an end to financial and military support for Ukraine.
Counter-demonstrations were also held in some areas.
Extremists could try to steer the rally in line with their own demands, according to advance warnings issued by Germany’s domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Police said some 1,100 people gathered in Weimar, in Thuringia. Right-wing speakers included a far-right extremist known regionally.
Some 850 people turned out in response to a call for counter-demonstrations, by the Weimar Citizens’ Alliance Against the Right. There were also sit-ins set up by a spontaneously organized rally.
In Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, police said that officers were attacked by a group of partially masked demonstrators from the left-wing spectrum. There were “violent attacks on colleagues,” a police spokesman said.
The officers responded by using batons and pepper spray. One person collapsed among the demonstrators in a problem attributed to health problems.
The police said the group of around 200 people was a counter-demonstration on the way to a gathering under the slogan Together for Germany, attended by some 500 people. A further 400 counter-demonstrators had also gathered.
Some 200 people also attended a Together for Germany demonstration in Karlsruhe. Six groups organized counter-demos, attended by some 1,200 people.
In Dortmund, up to 800 people gathered at a demonstration organised by the right-wing group, police said, while they estimated the number of counter-demonstrators at 300 to 500.
A group of counter-demonstrators left the route that was officially planned and tried to break through police barriers in order to get through to the Together for Germany demonstration, a spokesman said. Several hundred counter-demonstrators were then temporarily surrounded.
In Berlin, the police reported around 500 counter-demonstrators. Some 300 mainly right wingers joined the demonstration organized by the right-wing alliance.
Participants in an anti-right-wing demonstration march through the city center holding a sign that reads “Together for a Germany without fascists. I mean, imagine that!”, to protest against the right-wing nationwide demonstrations “Together for Germany”. Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa
People wave flags in front of the Goethe-Schiller monument in Weimar during the demonstration “Together for Germany” in Weimar. Heiko Rebsch/dpa
Counter-demonstrators protest against the demonstration “Together for Germany” in Weimar. Heiko Rebsch/dpa
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