Thousands of left-wing protestors clashed with police forces Saturday in the German city of Cologne. The demonstrators gathered to protest against a planned march by local nationalist elements, a parade which was eventually cancelled by local police.
Police reported that some 3,000 officers were called to the scene as 3,000 left-wing protestors threw stones at the police, and some even attempted to grab the officers' weapons. As a result, some parts of the Old City of Cologne were closed to traffic.
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Nationalist leaders from Belgium, Austria and Italy arrived in Cologne for a two-day "Anti-Islam conference", with the march protesting the building of a mosque to be one of the highlights, and was intended to support the "1,000 year history of Europe and Western-Christian ideals".
Members of the Pro-Colonge party expected some 1,500 supporters to join the march against the mosque and to protest the "immigration-invasion" of Europe.
The local city council approved the planned mosque to be built at a residential neighborhood. Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma called the nationalists "agitators and racists, who hide under the guise of a civil movement."
There are about 3 million Muslims currently living in Germany, comprising about 4% of the population.
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