BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of far-right protesters have marched through Berlin calling for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be removed from office.

Police accompanied the protest through the German capital's former Jewish district, at one point forcibly removing a blockade staged by far-left counter-demonstrators.

The protest began at the city's main train station, where speakers criticized the government's decision to allow large numbers of migrants into Germany. A crowd of up to 500 people chanted slogans such as "Merkel must go!"

A Berlin police spokesman says the event passed "relatively peacefully" apart from a few attempts by counter-protesters to break through police lines. Winfrid Wenzel was unable to immediately say whether there had been any arrests or injuries.

He said about 200 far-right protesters reached Alexanderplatz Square in the city on Saturday evening.