German far-right holds march

BIELEFELD, Germany -- Opposing crowds of protesters have taken to the streets of Bielefeld, in Germany, over an exhibition of Nazi-era war crimes.

Police said about 1,500 supporters of the far-right National Democratic Party attended a march and rally on Saturday.

At the same time up to 8,000 counter-demonstrators turned out.

Over 2,000 police officers were on duty for the NPD march, which was allowed to go ahead on condition the demonstrators stayed out of the city centre and after two planned speakers were banned.

Three NPD supporters were arrested after thowing bottles and stones at police, putting up barricades and damaging a police car, police spokesman Wolfgang Seifried said.

Left-wing counter-demonstrators also threw beer bottles toward the protesters and police.

Last month, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government suffered a setback in its bid to have the NPD banned.

The party is blamed for encouraging the increase in hate crimes in 2000.

In December, an estimated 3,300 people participated in a march organised by the NPD against the war crimes exhibition in Berlin.

The exhibit showing how regular German troops were involved in wartime atrocities against Jews, civilians and prisoners of war reopened at the end of November.

The exhibition caused uproar when it was first launched in 1994 because it countered a widely held belief in Germany that the army, unlike Hitler's elite SS, were either not involved in the worst Nazi atrocities or participated only under duress.

The new exhibition, "Crimes of the Wehrmacht -- the dimensions of the War of Extermination 1941-1944," is organised by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research.