anti-war sculpture denounced by protesters

Right wing protesters in the German city of Dresden 
have taken to the streets against an anti-war sculpture consisting of threempassenger buses placed vertically
 in the air.

The upturned vehicles are meant to resemble a sniper barricade in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

They are being put into place ahead of the annual memorial 
of the allied bombing of Dresden in World War Two.

Dresden mayor Dirk Hilbert was booed as he formally inaugurated the sculpture.

Police are investigating anonymous death threats
 against supporters of the scheme, including Mr Hilbert
 who has beenmallocated a police guard.

The inspiration for the imposing monument came from barricades used by rebels in besieged eastern Aleppo, 
made out of upturned buses which shielded people against the snipers of President Bashar al-Assad.

Thirty-two-year-old Syrian-German artist Manaf Halbouni
 told the DPA news agency that the monument is intended
 to represent "peace, freedom and humanity".

"There is no other political message," he said. "It's a peace
memorial, a modern Statue of Liberty."

He said the point of the sculpture was to inspire hope -
 in Dresden and Aleppo - while making the point that "life 
goes on, despite all the destruction".

But Dresden's far-right anti-Islamic Pegida movement 
has described the project as idiotic, an abuse of artistic freedom and an attack on their identity.

Protesters from the group jeered and booed Mayor Hilbert,
branding him a "traitor" while yelling "shame, shame" during the ceremony. They called for the sculpture to be melted 
down into scrap metal.

An estimated 25,000 people died in the British and
 American attack of Dresden which started on 13
 February 1945, creating a firestorm that left 33 sq km
 (12 sq miles) of the city in ruins.