A German official has said that Angela Merkel's open door migrant policy will lead to 'civil war' after thousands marched through one city's streets holding crucifixes during an anti-Islam protest.

Hansjoerg Mueller, of the Alternative for Germany party, said the country was 'sliding towards anarchy' and risks becoming a 'banana republic without any government'.

He made the claims after about 8,000 people joined the anti-Islam Pegida movement for a rally in Dresden over Angela Merkel's decision to allow up to one million migrants into the country this year.

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Thousands of anti-immigration protesters protesters marched through the streets of a German city in the latest demonstration against the huge influx of refugees

Demonstrators hold an illuminated cross and German flags upside-down during a demonstration of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West) in Dresden, eastern Germany, on Monday

Around 8,000 people joined the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement for a rally in Dresden over Angela Merkel's decision to allow up to one million migrants into the country this year

Some demonstrators held crucifixes and upside-down German flags while others shouted 'Merkel out!' alongside doctored images of the German Chancellor in a burqa and a Nazi outfit.

The group's leaders, who have been described by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere as 'hard right-wing extremists', are demanding an immediate end to the policy.

Mr Mueller was later asked for his views on remarks made by Bavarian official Peter Dreier. Mr Dreier had reportedly told Merkel that his town of Landshut would only take 1,800 refugees if a million were welcomed to the country - insisting that the rest would be put on buses to Berlin.

Mr Mueller told RT: 'Usually he does not have the power, but we are not living in usual times.

He added: 'Germany now is somewhere at the edge of anarchy and sliding towards civil war, or to become a banana republic without any government.'

Video of today's protest emerged on YouTube as prosecutors have opened an investigation into the group's founder for slander after he compared the justice minister to Hitler's head of propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

Lutz Bachmann said Social Democrat (SPD) minister Heiko Maas was the 'worst spiritual fire raiser' since Goebbels and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler.

Von Schnitzler was a television commentator in Communist East Germany who strongly criticised Western governments and media.

Polish football fans unveiled an enormous anti-migration banner at Sunday's Silesian Wroclaw match against Poznan showing a giant crusader defending Europe from invading jihadists in boats labelled USS Hussein, USS Bin Laden and USS ISIS

Migrants stand in front of tents as they wait for buses in Spielfeld after crossing the border between Slovenian and Austria

Hundreds of migrants waited patiently in the outdoor area as temperatures plummeted on Tuesday night

While hundreds waited, others crossed the border between Slovenia and Austria carrying large bags and dressed in winter clothing

A tent surrounded by debris and rubbish was erected at the side of the road and a tiny baby could be seen peeking out of it as other migrants walked by

Earlier in the day, buses had arrived to take hundreds of migrants to temporary shelter in Kufstein, which is near the German border

Austria has seen some 400,000 migrants enter the country since September, most of whom travel onwards to Germany or Scandinavia

Migrants held hands as they crossed the border into Austria in the winter sun on Tuesday afternoon

The comment is the latest in a series of provocative remarks made at the regular rallies of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA).

Only two weeks ago, a speaker said that concentration camps were 'unfortunately out of action'.

The refugee crisis in Europe has boosted the popularity of Pegida's rallies in the eastern city of Dresden and raised fears about right-wing radicalism.

Protesters hold a banner reading 'Without violence and united against religious wars on German soil - Pegida' during a demonstration of the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West in Dresden, Germany

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the group's founder Lutz Bachmann (pictured, centre, in brown jacket) for slander after he compared the justice minister to Hitler's head of propaganda Joseph Goebbels at the rally in Dresden

Many voters are worried about how Germany will cope with an influx of about one million migrants this year, many fleeing wars in the Middle East and Africa.

Social Democrats, who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, expressed outrage at Bachmann's comment.

SPD General Secretary Yasmin Fahimi said it was deceitful and disgusting.

A spokeswoman for Dresden prosecutors said they had started an investigation into slander.

But Bachmann said on his Facebook page that he would not be silenced.

Meanwhile, migrants disembark a dinghy on Tuesday afternoon after they cancelled their journey from the Turkish coast to Greek island Chios because of bad weather

A woman clutches on to another migrant's T-shirt and life jacket as they disembark from the dinghy

Some of the women, who were planning on travelling with children on board the packed boat, looked relieved to be back on shore

A girl wearing a purple and white top and furry hat reaches out as she makes her way through the shallows

A man lifts a young boy from the rubber boat into the choppy shallows after the group decided not to make the journey

A tiny boy dressed in trainers, jeans and a jacket walks along the rocky coast with his hands tucked into his life jacket

Others attempted to board a separate dinghy in a bid to travel to Chios from the Turkish coast near Cesme on Tuesday

Hundreds of life vests and several destroyed rubber dinghies pile up on a beach after refugees and migrants arrived on overloaded boats on the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday

Two packed boats of migrants arrived at Lesbos on Tuesday afternoon having braved the perilous journey from Turkey

'If the Sharia Party of Germany (SPD) and the whole press... demand hundreds of thousands of investigations, YOU WILL NOT GAG ME! I will still say openly say what I think.'

Bachmann has already been charged by Dresden prosecutors with incitement because of a post on social media last year in which he described refugees and asylum seekers as 'animals' and 'scumbags'.

No trial date has yet been set.

Migrants and refugees at a deserted holiday resort in Cesme, Turkey, as they wait to cross to the Greek island of Chios on Tuesday

A group of migrants start a fire in a desperate bid to stay warm as they wait at the resort for a gap in the weather

A child covers her face as she sits outside a decrepit building. Despite sometimes violent winds, refugees continue to flock to Greece with hopes of travelling on to EU countries further north while fearing that more and more border closures will block their progress

He quit as leader of PEGIDA earlier this year after a photo was published of him posing as Hitler which led to internal squabbles and the grassroots movement all but fizzled out until the migrants crisis swept Europe.