VIDEO: 6,000 'Neo-Nazis' March in Dresden: Nationalist Marchers in Germany - “There’s nothing in Germany that could compare to the scale of this Nazi march.”

DRESDEN, Germany, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Thousands of neo-Nazis held a "mourning march" Saturday to commemorate the wartime bombing of a historic German city, while thousands of leftists protested.

About 4,000 police officers kept the peace in Dresden, Deutsche Welle reported. Pacifists also marched to protest the Nazis and mourn the dead of World War II.

Dresden, the capital of Saxony, was bombed by the British and U.S. air forces between Feb. 13 and Feb. 15, 1945, setting off a firestorm that killed thousands of people and destroyed the city center. The city's downtown, famous for its baroque architecture, was rebuilt after the war.

Police said the total number of anti-Nazis marching Saturday was just under 10,000, while 6,000 participated in the neo-Nazi march.

This year's march was organized by a youth group affiliated with the National Democratic Party and attracted 1,000 more people than a march four years ago on the 60th anniversary of the bombing.

DRESDEN, Germany, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- German neo-Nazis have succeeded in appropriating the anniversary of the World War II firebombing of Dresden as a symbol for their cause, analysts say.

This year's Feb. 14 anniversary saw the turnout of roughly 6,000 neo-Nazis, one of the largest such right-wing extremist gatherings in Germany since 1945. They were countered by about 10,000 anti-Nazi marchers, creating a confrontation that gave the neo-Nazis more attention than they deserve, say local newspaper editorials gathered Monday by the German magazine Der Spiegel.

"(The Dresden anniversary) creates for them a perfect stage for their hateful lies and propaganda and they can see the effects of their strategy, aimed as it is at creating horror and fear among reasonable people," the magazine quoted the conservative daily Die Welt as saying.

"Now that huge neo-Nazi gatherings have been banned (elsewhere), the right wing has adopted the capital of Saxony as its premiere march location," added the left-leaning Berliner Zeitung. "The citizens of Dresden must take action and can no longer leave it to their politicians to save their city's reputation."

Up to 25,000 people died in the Allied bombing raids of Feb. 13-14, 1945, experts say, which destroyed Dresden's once-beautiful city center.