AKIPRESS.COM - On an overcast afternoon, small candles flicker on the paving stones where, in the early hours of Sunday morning, a German carpenter in his thirties was fatally stabbed in a street fight.

Even now, complete strangers arrive to lay flowers, stand in silence, hold hands. This growing makeshift memorial has become a focus for this troubled city's grief and anger.

Little is known about how or why the brawl started. Police have dismissed rumours circulating online that the man was defending a woman from sexual assault.

But within hours of his death in hospital, news that his killers were suspected to have been a Syrian and an Iraqi man triggered a furious and violent reaction, BBC reports.

For two nights running, hundreds and then thousands of right-wing extremists and sympathisers have taken to the streets.

The police openly admit they have been caught on the back foot both by the number of protesters and the speed at which they have mobilised. The groups behind the demonstrations have used social media to bring people together quickly.

On Monday night in particular, organisers were able to galvanise supporters from all over the country.