Dresden neo-Nazi march runs into human chain

By Kriesgberichter

BERLIN — Some 5,000 members of neo-Nazi and skinhead groups marched in the eastern German city of Dresden on Saturday, countered by a human chain of 10,000 demonstrators who opposed them.

For more than a decade, right-wing groups have used the anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945 to advance their agenda.

The bombing, which took place for three days from Feb. 13, 1945, created a firestorm that left the city in ruins.

The National Democratic Party, skinheads and other right-wing groups have used the bombing of the Saxon city to present Germany as a victim in World War II.

The NDP successfully retained its presence in the Saxon state assembly after it won more than 5 percent of the vote in state elections last August.

While such groups have claimed that hundreds of thousands died in the 1945 firebombing, a group of historians commissioned by the city two years ago estimated the true number of deaths at about 25,000.

The counterdemonstration, across the Elbe River, was organized by the city government, according to a statement on the city’s Web site.

“When we take each other by the hands now, we put a strong protective chain around our city,” Mayor Helma Orosz said in the statement. “We confront old and new Nazis, who try to misuse our day of mourning.”

There were some minor skirmishes, with a car flipped over and some barricades set ablaze but quickly extinguished.