Thousands march in Dresden over controversial anniversary of bombing

Several thousand people took to the streets of Dresden on Sunday for counter-protests as far-right marches nearby commemorated those killed in the destruction of the city by Allied forces at the end of World War II.

Historians say some 25,000 people were killed by US and British aerial bombardment of Dresden in February 1945, the moral justification of which was later fiercely debated among historians, as well as right and left-wing political groups in Germany.

Police said almost 5,000 people turned out in pouring rain for counter-protests, while almost 1,000 people joined a so-called "funeral march" organized by right-wing extremists.

A helicopter, mounted police and support officers from several different German states had been called in to prevent an escalation between the two protest groups.

According to a dpa reporter at the scene, police at one point stopped counter-demonstrators who were trying to get to areas where the right-wing extremists were marching, on the outskirts of Dresden city centre.

Police, who sought to keep the two groups separate to avoid confrontations, said on social media platform X that around 150 people had been taken into police custody.

Many on the left in Germany condemn the appropriation of the mass casualties in annual far-right marches.

Dresden, a city in former communist East Germany, is known for relatively high numbers of self-identified Nazis, as well as supporters of the far-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The actual anniversary of the start of the Dresden bombings (February 13-15) falls on Tuesday, and while several related rallies are scheduled to take place that day, police say no right-wing marches are planned.