Cologne, Germany - Carnival celebrations in Germany have been marred by brawls, police said Friday as the festivities shifted into high gear in a band of cities along the Rhine valley.

The annual celebrations are set to reach a climax on Monday with nationally televised parades of papier-mache floats through the streets of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Mainz and other towns.

Police said alcohol consumption had noticeably increased, with revellers drunk earlier in the day or the evening than in other years. They said this had made revellers more aggressive and assaults more likely.

In the course of Thursday, the first day of mass festivities in bars and at dances, police broke up 59 fights in Cologne and booked 115 injury cases, including a man, 40, who was badly wounded in a knife attack.

Organizers meanwhile imposed changes on some of the floats being readied for the costume parades on Monday.

One float had been set to show an effigy of Chancellor Angela Merkel topless and waiting for cosmetic surgery. Parts of the body of the effigy were marked with political issues she would like to shed.

The Cologne parade chief said a brassiere would be painted on the figure to avoid offence.

In Mainz, another float was to carry an effigy of a topless Catholic nun in a satirical attack on body-scanner devices which are able to show objects concealed under clothing. Real nuns protested.

On Monday, the float will show the make-believe body scanner marked "out of order."

While less than a quarter of German territory celebrates carnival, the parades are to be nationally televised. (dpa)