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A memorial to those who died during the Syrian siege of Aleppo has been set up this week in the German city of Dresden - amid furore among far-right groups. Locals have been divided by the 'art installation' after its opening ceremony was disrupted by furious protesters. The monument, which includes three gutted buses set upright, have been placed in the city centre in tribute to the victims of the battle for Aleppo. However, many locals have condemned the memorial as blasting it as a taxpayer-funded worship of radical Islamists. They suggest that the original inspiration of the three buses was taken from a group of Islamist militants in Syria.

GETTY Protesters see the monument as a symbol of Radical Islam

The memorial, designed by Syrian-born artist Manaf Halbouni, was unveiled on Dresden’s Neumarkt Square this week. However, the public square has been marked by constant turmoil in the days since - while officials fear this is set to continue. The installation was inspired by an iconic photograph of Aleppo residents putting bombed-out buses on their sides in front of their houses to protect themselves from sniper fire. However, the barriers from the original photo were later confimed to have been erected by radical rebel forces against the Syrian Army. The subsequent construction of the monument has raised questions about whether the publicly-funded installation was inadvertently showing support for Syrian radicals. In the original photograph, a flag depicting the symbol of Ahrar al-Sham, a radical Islamist group that was allied with the Al-Qaeda-backed Al-Nusra Front, can be seen. Ahrar al-Sham has been accused of persecuting and killing Christians in the past.

GETTY The monument of the three buses has divided the city

GETTY The original photography in Aleppo - built by Islamists

We knew there would be some people unhappy about this, but we didn’t anticipate the reaction being quite this intense Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz

Members of the anti-Islam movement Pegida, headquartered in Dresden, rallied against the monument during the opening ceremony. They claimed the taxpayer-funded project was an open symbol praising radical Islamist fighters. Protesters slammed the mayor Dirk Hilbert as "traitor of the nation" for allowing the art project. The city's leader has since faced death threats and is now under round-the-clock police protection. Others hit out at the timing of the installation, falling just before the anniversary of the World War II Dresden bombings by the Allies.

YOUTUBE The opening of the monument was disrupted by protesters

Germany on Fire: Five injured in fire at home for asylum seekers Mon, February 6, 2017 At least five people were injured in a fire that broke out in a flat on the first floor of an asylum seekers accommodation in Bad Homburg, Germany. Firefighters were able to rescue trapped residents, one man had apparently already jumped from a window. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 10 Firefighters try to extinguish the flames during a fire at an asylum seekers accomodation in Bad Homburg, Germany