German riot police used water cannon to keep left – wing radicals and anti-Islam protesters apart on Sunday as they held rival rallies in the city of Cologne.
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The counter-demonstrators came from a wide range of groupings, from far-left activists to politicians, representatives of local organisations and a Catholic workers’ union, the reporter said.
More than 10,000 people turned up to counter-protest Hogesa’s message, according to organizers of the event, which was staged by more than a dozen groups including “Cologne Impedes” and “Cologne Against the Right”, who shouted slogans such as “You are NOT the people!”
Germany has struggled to cope with the arrival of betwee 800,000 to 1 million refugees and this year, many of whom have fled from war-torn Islamic nations in the Middle East. Several leftists were arrested in the incident, and a police officer was lightly cut after leftists threw stones at his patrol auto.
Police did, however, manage to have the HoGeSa demonstration moved from last year’s location at the main railway station to the Deutz district on the other side of the river.
Earlier this month, Henriette Reker, a pro-refugee mayoral candidate in Cologne fell victim to a suspected xenophobic stabbing attack one day ahead of the vote. Reker was later elected mayor of the western German city.
Forty-four riot police were injured when protesters hurled rocks, bottles and firecrackers at them.
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Police had tried to have the HoGeSa demonstration banned, citing last year’s violence on October 26, in which at least 44 police officers were injured.
