Far-right rally in Germany's Chemnitz after knife attack

Tensions rose again Sunday in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, which last year saw days of xenophobic mob violence, after a local far-right group protested against a Muslim community festival.

Dozens of far-right protesters staged a rally, a day after an altercation in which an 18-year-old Syrian man allegedly injured the hand of a 41-year-old German man with a knife.

Police said they were investigating on charges of dangerous assault.

The altercation came after a Muslim community street festival was held Saturday in the city centre, and the local far-right group Pro Chemnitz protested nearby with a BBQ event.

An online video shows the extremist group grilling spit-roast pork while attendants yell "this is our city".

Pro Chemnitz later claimed the injured man was one of its "comrades in arms" and posted "breaking news" about the incident on social media along with a generic picture of a bloodied knife.

A local right-wing group then called for the demonstration Sunday, which was joined by some 50 people, according to local daily Freie Presse.

About 60 demonstrators staged a counter-protest and 66 police kept watch, local authorities said, adding that no violence was reported.

Chemnitz earned worldwide notoriety last year after a German man's fatal stabbing sparked mass protests which saw neo-Nazis rampaging through the streets targeting people of foreign appearance.

Defence lawyers for the Syrian man, Alaa Sheikhi, insist he is innocent in the manslaughter trial that is being held in another city of the ex-communist east, Dresden, for security reasons.