German police clashed with counter-demonstrators in Cologne before authorities banned a right-wing nationalist group from staging a rally Saturday against plans to build a big mosque in the city. At least one officer was injured.
Posters about protests against a so-called "anti-Islam congress" of the right-wing movement "pro Koeln" in downtown Cologne.
Photo: AP
Some of the counter-demonstrators lunged for officers' pistols while others threw stones and firecrackers. The injured officer was hit by a firecracker. Police said they detained about five people.
Police forced the Pro-Cologne nationalist group to call off the rally because there were fears that more serious violence would take place, police spokesman Burkhard Rick said. About 3,000 officers had been deployed to keep peace between the two groups.
"The security of citizens of Cologne has top priority," Rick said.
The Pro-Cologne group had planned to rally against what it calls the "Islamification" of the ethnically diverse city. Organizers had hoped to criticize plans to build a large, domed mosque - complete with two 55-meter-tall minarets - in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district.
But by midday just 30 Pro-Cologne supporters had managed to reach the rally site, a marketplace near the city center, as thousands of counter-demonstrators blocked streets leading to the square.
Some 5,000 more counter-demonstrators attended a peaceful rally nearby.
Cologne mayor Fritz Schramma told the crowd that the three-day nationalists' convention had hurt the city's reputation.
Saturday was the second of the three-day conference that Pro-Cologne billed as an attempt to build a "European, patriotic, populist right-wing movement." The group had invited members of nationalist parties from other European nations to attend.
Opening events Friday were severely hampered when hundreds of largely peaceful protesters managed to prevent the group's leaders from holding a news conference in a municipal building, forcing Pro-Cologne's supporters to seek refuge on a rental boat cruising the Rhine River. Eight people were arrested for throwing stones and paint balls at the boat.
An estimated 120,000 Muslims live in Cologne, widely viewed as one of Germany's most tolerant and well-integrated major cities.
