MORE than 50 armed vigilantes who responded to calls from a neonazi group to patrol the Polish border have been detained by German police, officials confirmed on Sunday.

Far-right party the Third Way, a split from the fascist National Democratic Party of Germany, had appealed for “border walks” to stop refugees from Iraq and Syria entering the country.

Police detained a group of 30 near the village of Gross Gastrose late on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday and seized weapons, including a machete and a bayonet.

Residents of the border town of Guben held a rally on Saturday in opposition to the vigilante squads.

"We don’t want to leave the region to the neonazis. We want to send a signal that asylum is and remains a human right,” the organisers said in a statement.

Guben Mayor Fred Mahro, a Christian Democrat, said that he rejected any form of vigilantism.

Meanwhile, an additional 800 police were deployed to the border to control migrant flows.

“Hundreds of officers are currently on duty there day and night. If necessary, I am prepared to reinforce them even further,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said.

Speaking to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, he hinted that the government may be prepared to build a border wall to keep migrants out.

“It is legitimate for us to protect the external border in such a way that undetected border crossings are prevented,” he said.

Poland has suggested constructing a €350 million (£295m) wall on its border with Belarus, accusing the latter’s government of deliberately sending migrants there in a bid to put pressure on the European Union.