Police face far-right activists protesting the opening of a new center for refugees on August 22, 2015 in Heidenau, Germany, a day after similar standoffs left dozens wounded. (AFP PHOTO / DPA / ARNO BURGI)
BERLIN — Hundreds of far-right protesters marched through Berlin’s former Jewish district on Saturday night, calling for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be removed from office.
Police accompanied the protest through the German capital, at one point forcibly removing a blockade staged by far-left counter-demonstrators.
The protest began at the city’s main train station, where speakers criticized the government’s decision to allow large numbers of migrants into Germany.
A crowd of up to 500 people chanted slogans such as “Merkel must go!”
A demonstrator wears a jacket with the writing “Patriot Deutschland” (Germany Patriot) during the fourth demonstration of the right-wing populist alliance ‘Wir fuer Deutschland’ in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, November 5, 2016. (Paul Zinken/dpa via AP)
A Berlin police spokesman said the event passed “relatively peacefully” apart from a few attempts by counter-protesters to break through police lines.
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The spokesman, Winfrid Wenzel, was unable to immediately say whether there had been any arrests or injuries.
He said about 200 far-right protesters reached Alexanderplatz Square in the city on Saturday evening.
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