“The situation remains tense,” Dresden police said. “Thousands of violent activists have broken through police barriers in several places to get into the area allocated for the extreme right.”

Almost 600 far-right protesters had gathered by early afternoon, with several hundreds more on the way to take part in three neo-Nazi marches given the go-ahead across Dresden on Saturday, police said.

Up to 6,000 neo-Nazis were expected to attend. Organizers of the counter-protests said there were more than 10,000 trying to block the neo-Nazis marches. Last week, some 17,000 people formed a human chain in Dresden to protest against far-right groups on a “funeral march” commemorating the 66th anniversary of the Allied bombing of the city during World War Two.

Police said three people had been detained.