Angry Germans pelted neo-Nazis with bottles, fruit and eggs today when some 6,000 people took to the streets of Munich to disrupt a march by about 250 supporters of far-right political groups.
Booing demonstrators threw tomatoes, eggs and bananas at the marchers, who were protected by hundreds of police in the Bavarian capital.
Police said 53 arrests were made.
At a protest rally nearby, city mayor Christian Ude said Munich, Hitler's home in the Nazi party's early days in the 1920s, wanted nothing to do with his present-day followers.
Far-right parties made electoral gains in other German states last year and neo-Nazis staged one of their biggest demonstrations in February.
Though smaller than such movements in some other European countries, Germany's neo-Nazis are a source of particular concern to their compatriots because of their history.
Munich protesters handed out white roses, symbol of local students executed during World War Two for opposing Hitler.