A German far right group has stirred Muslim anger worldwide by holding a three-day "Anti-Islamisation Conference" to protest against the construction of mosques and Muslim immigration.

Prominent members of Europe's far right, including French "Front National" leader Jean-Marie le Pen and Belgian far-right politician Filip Dewinter, have said they will attend the meeting in Cologne which is aimed at forging a European alliance against "Islamisation."

The conference will include a rally in the centre of Cologne tomorrow which police say could lead to clashes with left-wing groups that plan a counter-demonstration. Trade unions, churches and other groups have also announced plans to protest against the conference.

The conference organiser is a local protest group called "Pro-Cologne" which campaigned against the city's recent decision to allow the construction of a large new mosque with two 55-metre tall minarets. Around 330,000 immigrants live in Cologne, about a third of the city's population.

"Mosques are shooting out of the ground like mushrooms, the muezzin call and headscarves are flooding our streets," Pro-Cologne said on its website. It said 150 "politicians and publicists" from all over Europe and 1,500 other participants will attend the conference at which it plans to launch a petition "against the Islamisation of our cities".

The meeting has drawn fierce criticism from German politicians and city leaders in Cologne.

The premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Juergen Ruettgers, said: "Those who abuse the cosmopolitan and democratic city of Cologne as a meeting place for right-wing radicals are against tolerance, against reconciliation, against humanity."

Iran has appealed to France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to block the conference and complained that it reflects a "growth of anti-Islamic sentiments in Europe."

The Council of Muslims in Germany called the conference "an unparalleled abuse of freedom of opinion" that would heighten xenophobia.

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