German police used water cannons Saturday to prevent over 8,500 leftist activists from clashing with some 300 members of extreme-right parties holding a rally in the northern city of Kiel. Several leftist activists tried to force their way through 2,000 police keeping the demonstrators apart by throwing bottles, a police spokesman said. Police used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators and made numerous arrests, said the spokesman. The Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany, of which Kiel is the capital, is due to hold elections for its regional parliament on February 20. No extreme-right parties are currently represented. Far-right parties have no members in the federal German parliament but are represented in the legislatures in three regions: Saxony and Brandenburg in the east and Bremen in the north. (AFP)