March 11, 2008

German police search youth headquarters of far-right group

Police searched the headquarters of a far right group's youth wing Monday as part of an investigation into members allegedly circulating banned material, officials said.

The federal and state office of the Young National Democrats — the youth wing of the National Democratic Party known by its German initials NPD — were searched in a morning raid in the eastern city of Bernburg, in Saxony Anhalt, police said in a statement. At the same time, police also searched an apartment in the city that was shared by the three suspects in the case.

Two of the suspects — identified only as a 26- and 31-year-old — are being investigated on suspicion they posted the lyrics of a banned song on the group's Internet site, police said. The third suspect, a 29-year-old, is alleged to have run a mail-order business selling items with banned symbols on them, as well as CDs with banned songs.

In Germany it is illegal to display Nazi symbols like the swastika, or to distribute songs praising the era or inciting racial hatred. The police statement, however, gave no indication what the songs or items linked to the case were, and nobody was available for clarification at the police office involved.

The statement also did not mention whether any of the suspects were arrested.

In 2003, Germany's highest court blocked an attempt to ban the NPD by the government, which argued that the party incited hate crimes against foreigners and Jews. The court refused to hear the case because the government cited statements by party members who turned out to be paid informers for state authorities.

International Herald Tribune

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go have a look at the NPD and JN sites and you can see where Griffin's got a lot of his ideas from - the hardcore moneymaking, the toning down of his views to make them almost palatable and so on. Every one of these groups should be banned, yes, including the BNP.

Anonymous said...

Is the Young National Democrats any different from the Young BNP?? Doubt it.

Anonymous said...

The NPD are friends of Nick Griffin and they have attended Red White and Blue festivals, and vice versa. If only the British Police would raid the Young BNP, but you just kinda know it won't happen, and if anything was found at the houses of Collet and co, there wouldn't be any charges pressed.

Guess why???