Cologne mayor calls on the city's inhabitants to show 'cold shoulder' to an anti-Islam meeting organized by the far-right Pro-Koeln group.

"Shut your windows and doors, lower your shutters ... Make it clear to Pro-Koeln and its camarilla: you are not welcome in Cologne," Fritz Schramma said in a statement.

He described Cologne as a city that homed people with different religious backgrounds and renowned for its variety and tolerance.

“Populist right-wing rat catchers openly in favor of exclusion and who stir up fear are not welcome here,” he stressed.

The statement comes ahead of a tow-day 'anti-Islamification congress' scheduled to start on Friday, which wishes to see far-right supporters from Europe to rally against the spread of Islam in the continent.

Filip Dewinter, head of Belgium's far-right Vlaams Belang party, and Andreas Moelzer, the Euro MP once ejected from Austria's Freedom Party for being too extreme and Mario Borghezio from Italy's anti-immigration Northern League are among the attendants.

The invitation, however, has not been so warmly welcomed even on the side of Koeln's friends as Jean-Marie Le Pen, the head of France's National Front, convicted several times for racist and anti-Semitic outbursts, has declined to attend.

Pro-Koeln hopes some 1,500 people will attend a rally in support of the conference on Saturday.

But their numbers will be dwarfed by 40,000 to 60,000 people that Cologne mayor hopes will gather for a planned counter-demo that is also expected to attract supporters from other European countries.

Cologne police prepare to step up security as the western German city approaches the controversial event, planning to deploy around 3,000 officers to prevent and break up any clashes.

MRS/PA