Similar events occurred in other German cities at the weekend.

In Hannover, around 3,000 people took to the streets Saturday in protest at a 270-strong NPD rally.

In the former East German state of Thuringia, 550 people protested against a right-wing music festival which had drawn around 370 NPD followers to the town of Poessneck.

Senior politicians have called for the NPD to be banned, after an attempt to do so in 2003 failed when it was revealed that large numbers of the party's inner circle were actually undercover government agents or informants.