Germans mark 60th anniversary of Dresden fire bombing

Survivors of the allied bombings line up bodies to be burned in the east German city of Dresden. (AFP/Walter Hahn)

Yahoo (AFP) : Germans pay their respects to the tens of thousands of people who were killed by the Allied bombing of Dresden, as neo-Nazis again try to draw political advantage from the commemorations.

The history of the bombing campaign, which involved as many as 1,200 British and US aircraft that night and the following day, remains contentious and the day's events risk being hijacked by the far right.

A rally of 5,000 people has been planned by the National Democratic Party (NPD), enjoying a surge in popularity and holding seats in the state parliament in Saxony, of which Dresden is capital, for the first time in three decades. Link