Thousands Pack Anti-racism Concert in Germany's Chemnitz

Tens of thousands of people thronged an anti-racism concert Monday in protest against xenophobic mobs that ran rampage in the city of Chemnitz, as Angela Merkel urged Germans to stand up against the far right's message of hate and division.

Chemnitz, in former communist Saxony state, was flung into the spotlight as far-right protesters went after foreign-looking people in violent demonstrations last week against the fatal stabbing of a man, allegedly by an Iraqi.

After a weekend of protests in which right-wing extremists vastly outnumbered counter-protesters, a huge crowd estimated by city authorities as 50,000 people massed by early evening at the Chemnitz free concert Monday.

Bearing anti-racism posters, many chanted "Nazis out" at the gig, featuring several punk and indie bands under the motto "there are more of us".

Earlier Monday, Merkel had urged Germans to mobilise against hate.

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said it was understandable that crimes like the knife attack in Chemnitz would provoke sadness and concern among the population.

But marches by "violence-prone right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis have nothing in the least to do with mourning for a person or with concern for a city's cohesion", he said.

"These people who march and are prone to violence -- some have also shamelessly shown their closeness to Nazism -- they stand neither for Chemnitz nor for Saxony overall, nor are they 'the people'," said Seibert, referring to a popular "We are the people" chant used by far-right protesters.

"We must make that clear to them," be it through political or legal means, he said.

"Every citizen can also raise his or her voice to clearly show them their attitude against hate, against the attempt to...