Around 100 far-right nationalists marched in the western German city of Cologne on Saturday, with protesters outnumbered tenfold by police, according to authorities.
Supporters of the right-wing extremist party Pro NRW marched accompanied by around 1,000 police, as well as several hundred people who joined a counter-demonstration, prompting police to intervene to separate the two groups.
The protests come as police in Cologne face renewed criticisms over their handling of New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Last year hundreds of women celebrating the start of 2016 filed complaints that they had been sexually assaulted and robbed in the city centre, allegedly by large groups of foreigners.
Police in the city again came under fire after the latest New Year’s Eve festivities over allegations of racial profiling. Officials were also slammed for using the term “Nafri” to describe the groups of North Africans which officers had targeted during the events.
The Pro NRW party, known for an anti-immigration policy, has since begun selling T-shirts with the word “Nafri” on them to show intolerance for North Africans in Germany.
Police said they blocked 200 counter-protesters who were attempting to disrupt the march and now face criminal proceedings. One was arrested.
Despite a lower turnout for the right-wing extremist party Pro NRW, which had expected around 400 supporters to join in the demonstration, the march caused major disruption to traffic in the city.
The right-wing party is excluded from taking seats in regional and national parliaments as it has failed to gain enough votes to pass Germany’s threshold of 5 percentage points in elections.
Supporters were set to march again the following weekend, with police expecting further couter-protests.