Neo-Nazis March Through Berlin

Ringed by police in riot gear, the largest Neo Nazi demonstration since the collapse of the third reich made its way near Berlin's old Jewish quarter Saturday afternoon, sparking clashes between police and left-wing counter-demonstrators.

About 2,800 extremists from throughout Europe marched together with members of Germany's extreme right wing National Democratic Party (NPD). The NPD organized the march in protest of a newly opened photo exhibition showing ordinary German Wehrmacht soldiers committing crimes during World War II.

Counter-demonstrators, including members of the Jewish community, organized protests throughout the city. Left wing demonstrators, wrapped up in scarves and jackets against the bitter cold, fought with police near the protest route in Berlin's Mitte district.

The demonstrators lit garbage cans on fire and damaged police cars. At least one policeman was slightly wounded in the clashes, which police put down using water cannons and tear gas. Police said more than 20 people were arrested.

More than 3,500 police officers, many brought in from outside Berlin, effectively blocked of most of Mitte, closing off streets around the protest route. The protest and its consequences left many Berliners upset.

"I don't think they should be allowed to march, especially because of our history," said Inge Sliep, 61, after verbally sparring with police officers at one blockade. "As Germans we're always in this extreme situation, this doesn't affect other Europeans."

Jewish organizations had tried to get politicians to cancel the demonstration in the week leading up to the protest. In the end, they managed to get the police to re-direct the march route so that it didn't wind its way through Berlin's old Jewish quarter.

"These Neo-Nazis are a problem," said Annetta Kahane, a spokeswoman for Berlin's Jewish community. "I'm furious that the whole city center has to be shut down. Instead of protecting the Nazis, the police should guard the buildings and let people celebrate the Sabbath in peace."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, a prominent global Jewish human rights organization, wrote a formal letter of protest to the German government, asking the march be cancelled. A government spokesman said cancelling was not legally possible, but called the march an "intolerable provocation," a sentiment echoed by protestors yesterday.

"It's clearly a provocation," said Martin Enger, 32, a native Berliner now living in Dreseden. "Especially today, on the Jewish holy day." Enger said he had originally wanted to visit the controversial photo exhibit but couldn't get in.

Hundreds of people waited outside the Institute of Contemporary Art, near the protest route, which was hosting the photo exhibit, titled "Crimes of the Wehrmacht – the dimensions of the War of Extermination, 1941-1944". Berlin prominents, such as Mayor Klaus Wowereit, answered a call by the group Europe Without Racism, and visited the exhibition in protest to the NPD march.

"I'm here to show a symbol in peace, that is the right answer against the NPD demonstration," Wowereit said.

Police accompanied the NPD marchers, clad in bomber jackets and carrying placards praising German WWII soldiers and criticizing the US, onto reserved street cars after the march ended in the late afternoon.