"So far, our colleagues carried out more than 40 detentions… So far, 13 colleagues were reported injured. Three vehicles were set on fire," the central operations division of the Berlin police said on its Twitter account.
According to local media reports, come 1,700 policemen were deployed to ensure the rallies are carried out peacefully. Several activists managed to break through the police cordon, with law enforcers using tear gas.
The Merkel government has been repeatedly criticized for its open-door migration policy, as Europe is struggling to manage an unprecedented refugee crisis with hundreds of thousands fleeing war and violence in the Middle East and North Africa.
More than 1.8 million migrants entered the European Union in 2015, according to the EU border agency Frontex.
