Some 1,400 people protested Saturday against a demonstration in the eastern Germany city of Frankfurt an der Oder by the right-wing extremist NPD Party, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. The counter-demonstrators gathered on the so-called Democracy Mile in the city on the Polish border and called for tolerance and understanding between peoples. Under the motto "heart not hate," the counter-demonstrators released red balloons as the 200 or so NPD supporters marched through the city centre. Both demonstrations passed off peacefully, according to the police. The NPD officially organized its demonstration to protest the party conference of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU Party which is currently taking place in the city. Merkel called on Germans to fight the NPD. She wished courage to anyone fighting extremists from the right or the left of the political spectrum.
