Cologne, Germany - German judges forebade Friday plans by rightists to march to the future site of Cologne's grand mosque, but the city was bracing for trouble when the "anti-Islamization" group meets on Saturday.

Last September, the arrival of the rightists triggered mass protests. Muslims, leftists and thousands of angry residents blocked Cologne's narrow cobbled streets and declared, "They shall not pass."

After extreme leftists rioted, police feared a mass brawl and banned the parade by Pro Koeln, the rightist group.

Pro Koeln and an allied group Pro NRW, which are linked to far-right parties, applied for a second attempt at a parade this Saturday.

But the superior administrative tribunal in the city of Muenster on Friday confirmed a ruling that the likely crowd violence would strain even 5,600 police to breaking point. Pro NRW had argued it had a constitutional right to demonstrate with full police protection.

The rightists said the parade through the heart of Cologne was to have been the climax of a three-day "convention" to oppose construction of mosques and criticize immigration by Muslims to Germany.

The city has allocated the group a cordoned-off street near the city exhibition grounds for a stationary rally on Saturday.

Some 50 rightists began the convention Friday in nearby Dormagen. Hundreds of people demonstrated against them there.

At Leichlingen, 20 kilometres north of Cologne, 250 Christians and political activists demonstrated Friday in solidarity with Muslims.

Pro NRW told reporters it was a victim of "discrimination" and "mob rule." But the mayor of Cologne, Fritz Schramma, warned that the Pro groups were purveyors of racist hate. German anti-subversion agencies have put the groups under surveillance. (dpa)