An estimated2,000 people marched in the streets of the German towns of Breme and Sieburg today to protest against two rival neo-Nazi demonstrations.
Security forces in Breme, in northern Germany, managed to keep the protesters at a safe distance from the neo-Nazi rally, which numbered around 150 people.
The rally was called by the NPD party, which the German government is attempting to ban on the grounds that it helped start a wave of extreme rightwing violence against foreigners and other minorities.
Anti-nazi protestors gathered after Ms Marieluise Beck, the German government's commissioner for foreigners' issues, called on residents to openly challenge right-wing extremists.
In Siegburg, close to Bonn, 150 people protested against a gathering of neo-Nazis who were in turn demonstrating against the savage beating a week earlier of a 21-year-old skinhead.
Police have issued five arrest warrants in connection with the attack.
AFP