Marchers carried placards reading "Build bridges not walls", "United against racism" and "We are indivisible - for an open and free society". Some danced to pop music on a warm autumn day.

Organisers put the turnout at 242,000 people for the demonstration, which followed anti-immigration protests in several eastern cities over the summer and a rise in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party before Bavaria's state election on Sunday, October 14. 

A police spokesman declined to estimate the size of the crowd at the march, which was organized by a broad alliance of associations, labor unions, parties and rights groups including Amnesty International.