Germany: Far-right anti-refugee rally dwarfed by 1,600 counter-protesters

Police officers had to step in to prevent clashes when right-wing, anti-refugee protesters and counter-demonstrators came face to face in Wetzlar on Friday night.
Around 100 right-wing extremists attempted to march through the town to condemn Germany’s refugee policy. However they were met by around 1,600 counter-protesters, comprising of Antifa-activists, unions, church members and Wetzlar residents.
Some activists broke away from the group and prevented the right-wing protesters from marching past the town's mosques and prayer rooms, as they had initially intended. Police officers had to step in when right-wing extremists and counter-protesters had a standoff, but no further escalation was reported.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the Pegida Dusseldorf branch (Dugida), Melanie Dittmer, addressed the right-wing protesters, stating that the Cologne sexual assaults were "perfectly normal." She claims that this is what happens "when a bunch of young men come here [and] want young women." In April Dittmer was sentenced to eight months probation for sedition, slander and for impeding freedom of religion.