Clashes have erupted between the supporters of the extremist anti-Islam and anti-immigration group PEGIDA movement and a group of protesters staging a counter-rally in a German city.

The scuffles broke out on Sunday after some 4,000 people took to the streets of Stuttgart in a bid to block a rival demonstration by PEGIDA supporters.

Several hundred police officers were on duty to control any outbreak of violence.

Despite the heavy security measures, skirmishes occurred between PEGIDA opponents and its supporters, estimated to be about 250 people.

The anti-PEGIDA rally was organized by a group called “For diversity, against racism,” a coalition of civil society groups.

Several groups opposing PEGIDA have emerged since the extremist group began its demonstrations last year. It began to launch weekly Monday night rallies in Germany’s eastern city of Dresden in October 2014. PEGIDA followers demand stricter rules on the influx of immigrants into Germany and Europe.

In response, numerous groups and individuals have staged protests against PEGIDA in cities across Germany.

On Friday, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) voiced concern over “the proliferation and dissemination of racist ideas by certain political parties and movements” in Germany.

PEGIDA is a German acronym, whose full name translates as “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West.”

MSM/HJL/HRB