The founder of German anti-Islam group Pegida will appear in court today facing charges of inciting hatred in October 2015.
Lutz Bachmann, 43, has been accused of inciting racial hatred in Facebook posts, allegedly calling refugees "scumbags, "filth" and "cattle".
The trial will take place in Dresden, the founding city of the Pegida movement.
Bachmann could face up to five years in prison if he is found guilty.
He has claimed the trial is politically motivated, and wore large, rectangular dark glasses as he addressed the crowd outside the court, apparently in protest against German censorship.
A supporter of Bachmann outside the court carried a banner reading: "Shame on you! Acquit Bachmann".
Pegida – an acronym for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" – has been gaining popularity in recent months both in Germany and internationally.
It organises mass protest across Germany and in other countries, protesting for the expulsion of refugees and a closing of borders to Muslims refugees and migrants.
The court says Bachmann "disrupted public order" through his comments, which equated to an "attack on the dignity" of refugees.
Separately, police have arrested five suspects accused of attacking migrant hostels and plotting anti-immigrant terror.
