The well-known Dortmund neo-Nazi Siegfried Borchardt died just under a week ago.
The right-wing extremist scene gathers on Saturday in Dortmund for a demo with a “funeral march”.
There are three counter-events.
Dortmund - A rally by right-wing extremists and several counter-events on Saturday in Dortmund were largely peaceful and trouble-free.
The Dortmund police spoke of 480 participants in the right-wing extremist meeting.
The organizer had registered 250 participants for the demo.
"This number was unrealistic from the start," said a police spokeswoman in the early afternoon of the German press agency.
It was expected that there would actually be more than 500 demonstrators.
After the death of the Dortmund neo-Nazi Siegfried Borchardt, a right-wing extremist applicant had called for the meeting.
Borchardt was known nationwide as "SS-Siggi".
Therefore, fans of the scene were expected to travel beyond North Rhine-Westphalia.
The right-wing extremists gathered near the main train station around 2 p.m., and about an hour and a half later the “funeral march” started through the city to the Dorstfeld district, where Borchardt last lived. Some participants carried black flags. Numerous roads in the affected area were temporarily closed. The traffic was partially diverted, which led to some traffic jams in the city area. Two subway lines also did not run for the duration of the elevator.
“If you intend to go to the main train station, you better plan a few more minutes.
Due to the barriers at the level of and around the Katharinentreppe, you may have to plan one or the other detour, ”the police tweeted around noon.
A police contact point had been set up for media representatives.
The police, who had strict conditions for the events, are present with “strong forces”, said the spokeswoman.
A police helicopter also circled over the city.
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The Dortmund Greens and the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), among others, had called for counter-protests.
In addition, there was an urgent registration from the left-wing extremist scene.
The Antifa had already mobilized in advance for a rally.
Here, too, there were no particular incidents until late afternoon.
A few days ago it became known that Borchardt had died just under a week ago at the age of 67.
"SS-Siggi" was considered to be one of the heads of the Dortmund right-wing extremist scene, which is now considered to be weakened.
He was a member of the Dortmund city council for “Dierechte” in 2014, but resigned his mandate after two months.
He had a long criminal record and served several prison terms - among other things for sedition, breach of the peace, damage to property and dangerous bodily harm.
dpa