Police in Germany have admitted not deploying enough officers to tackle a far-right march that took place in response to a man being stabbed to death.

The German man was killed at a street festival in the eastern town of Chemnitz early on Sunday in a dispute between "several people of various nationalities".

The circumstances that led to the death remain unclear, but as word spread the key suspects were foreigners, the far-right quickly mobilised.

Later on Sunday, police arrested two men from Iraq and Syria, prompting around 800 people to take to the streets.

Image: Protesters shouted 'you are not welcome here' at migrants

On Monday, thousands of football hooligans including hundreds of supporters of PEGIDA, a German nationalist anti-Islam and anti-immigration group, gathered for another protest that turned violent.


It was initially thought about 1,000 far-right protesters and half that number of counter-protesters would take part, but in the end 600 officers struggled to contain about 6,000 demonstrators from the far-right.

At least 20 people were injured by objects hurled by both far-right demonstrators as well as anti-fascist counter-protesters.

Image: A Police Water Cannon in Chemnitz, eastern Germany

Warrants have also been issued for the arrest of ten people who performed Nazi salutes, which are illegal in Germany.

Some of those taking part in the march chanted "the national resistance is marching here" and "Luegenpresse", a Nazi-era term which translates as "lying press".

The level and nature of the violence prompted some German commentators to liken the scenes to those seen in the country before Adolf Hitler took power.

"Of course history is not repeating itself, but that a far-right mob is on a rampage in the middle of Germany and the authorities are overwhelmed, is reminiscent of the situation during the Weimar Republic," said Spiegel Online.

Image: Riot police and protesters stand next to a makeshift memorial for a man who died

The local Chemnitz force admitted afterwards too few officers had been deployed.

Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the march as a display of "hate in our streets".

She also referred to the earlier demonstration during which protesters were said to "hunt down" foreigners in street mobs.

She said: "What we have seen is something which has no place in a constitutional democracy.

"We have video recordings of [people] hunting down others, of unruly assemblies, and hate in the streets, and that has nothing to do with our constitutional state."

Image: German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned 'hate on our streets'

Roland Woeller, the interior minister, said that the protesters were not all local, and had travelled from far across Germany for the march.

"The police in Saxony are in a difficult situation," he admitted.

"Should it be requested, the federal government will provide police support."

In German elections last year, a quarter of the votes in Chemnitz were for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).