Vienna police were on Friday bracing for protests against a ball organized by far-right groups and politicians, with several thousand expected to attend the demonstration that has sparked clashes in years past.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 demonstrators from 15 different groups planned to stage protests and attempt to stop revellers getting to the annual "Akademikerball" ("Academics' Ball").

One of these demonstrations has not been given police authorization and some 2,500 additional officers were set to be mobilised in the evening following clashes in recent years.

The ball -- part of Vienna's traditional ball season which is currently in full swing -- is organised by the far-right, eurosceptic and anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe), the third-largest in parliament. In previous years other European far-right figures have attended including France's Marine Le Pen.

This year a number of Viennese taxi drivers have clubbed together using Facebook to boycott the ball and refuse to take participants to the event at the Austrian capital's former imperial palace, the Hofburg.