Far-right rally for Hitler’s birthday attracts crowd of 20

Only 20 people attended a far-right rally held in a small German town to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birth on Saturday.

The German newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung reported even lower numbers and said only 14 people had attended.

Organisers had hoped to gather 50 people to demonstrate in Ingelheim, a west German town near Frankfurt, according to news agency DPA.

Instead, thousands of counter-protesters filled the centre of the town as the far-right group began marching at 3pm.

Two anti-racist groups had called on their supporters to protest the birthday rally.

The crowds jeered and drowned out the speech of the man leading the march.

Counter-protesters also waved EU flags and banners which read “more heart, less hate”, according to Deutsche Welle.

Ingelheim officials had initially banned the rally, saying that it would go against “citizens’ sense of dignity, custom and morals.”

But a regional court later overturned the ban.

The small far-right group rallied under a banner which read “maintaining the homeland, promoting the family and shaping the future.”

Police officers in Ingelheim said both rallies passed off peacefully.

On Friday the World Jewish Congress (WJC) urged European governments to act against pro-Hitler demonstrations.

“Planned events include meetings in various locations across France, a hiking trip and picnic in Ukraine, a rock concert in Italy and another two conventions in separate locations in Germany,” a spokesperson for the organisation said.

A three-day far-right conference in Bugaria also took place from 20 April to 22 April.

“The spirit of this conference is part and parcel with the inciting and violent nature of the annual [neo-Nazi] Lukov march and should be met with the same condemnation and denunciation,” Robert Singer, WJC’s chief executive, said in a letter sent directly to Mladen Marinov, Bulgaria’s Interior Minister.

“These gatherings are a stark reminder of the past,” a WJC spokesperson said on Twitter.

“We must do everything we can to ensure history does not repeat itself.”

In Germany the biggest opposition force remains the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which won dozens of national parliamentary seats in a 2017 election.