Ticket prices for a speech by Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders in Berlin on Saturday have been sharply reduced to fill seats.

The organisers initially charged 100 euros per ticket but were forced to cut the price to just five euros when hardly any were sold. There are still 200 tickets available with a day to go. Sponsors have agreed to pay the costs not covered by ticket sales. The venue where the Dutch politician is to give his speech can seat 1,000 people.

The event has been organised by Die Freiheit (Freedom), a small German anti-immigration party which holds views very similar to the populist Dutch Freedom Party. The most recent opinion poll shows Die Freiheit would barely win one percent of the votes if elections were held today. As Germany has an electoral threshold of five percent, the party has no chance of winning a seat in parliament.

The exact location of the venue where Mr Wilders is to give his speech is being kept secret until Saturday morning for security reasons.

(gsh/rk/nc)