Members of murderous neo-Nazi gang linked to German secret service

Germany's intelligence services have revealed that they are investigating whether members of a brutal neo-Nazi terror gang, responsible for a series of bomb attacks and cold blooded murders, were double agents who also covertly worked as secret service informers.

Suspicions of an extraordinary intelligence service link with the far-right group have emerged following a spectacular police raid in eastern Germany last week, which tracked down a neo-Nazi terrorist cell that had eluded police and prosecutors for more than a decade. The gang, which called itself the National Socialist Underground, murdered a policewoman and nine immigrant street vendors – who were shot in the face in broad daylight – carried out two bomb attacks which injured dozens, and robbed 14 banks to finance its operations.

The attacks were among the most brutal carried out by a neo-Nazi organisation in Germany since the Second World War. The Interior Minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, described them as a "new dimension" of far right terror. Gang members left behind DVDs in which they boasted about their murders and showed the bloodstained corpses of their victims, alongside bizarre images of the Pink Panther cartoon figure.

Yesterday Chancellor Angela Merkel described the activities of the gang as a "disgrace for Germany" and pledged that her government would take all steps to fully investigate why the far-right extremist group had been able to operate for so long without being caught. Last week police discovered the bodies of Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt, both in their 30s, in a burned out caravan in the east German city of Eisenach, after they were called to investigate a bank robbery in the town. The two, ringleaders of the gang, had carried out the robbery and subsequently committed suicide, police said.

A third suspect, a woman identified as Beate Zschäpe, 36, surrendered to police in the eastern town of Zwickau after blowing up her rented flat in an attempt to destroy incriminating evidence. A fourth suspect was arrested near Hanover on Sunday.

However, it has since emerged that investigators found a pistol in the ruins of the building linking the gang to the murders of one Greek and eight Turkish street vendors in separate incidents across Germany, and also highly sensitive intelligence documents suggesting that gang members may also have worked as secret service "moles".

According to information supplied to the Bild newspaper, police discovered so-called "legal illegal" intelligence service documents belonging to the cell members in the ruins of Zschäpe's apartment. The Interior Minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, said investigations so far had not found any evidence of the national intelligence services having recruited members of the cell.

Independent

'Neo-Nazi' arrested over bomb attacks

German police yesterday arrested a suspected member of a neo-Nazi terrorist gang held responsible for a hitherto unexplained series of murders and bomb attacks in which a policewoman and nine immigrant kebab stall owners were killed.

Intelligence officials have described the string of murders and bomb blasts, which had baffled police for 11 years, as Germany's "worst case of right-wing violence in decades" and there were renewed calls yesterday for the government to ban the country's neo-Nazi National Democratic Party.

The suspect, a 37-year-old man named only as Holger G, was arrested early yesterday near Hanover. Police said he was thought to be a member of the "National Socialist Underground" terror group and was believed to have supplied three other gang members with a driving licence and passport. The arrest followed a police raid last week in the east German city of Zwickau, where the bodies of gang members Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt, both in their thirties, were discovered in a caravan. Police say they probably committed suicide.

A third suspect, a 36-year-old woman identified as Beate Zschäpe, surrendered to police after blowing up the flat where she had been living in an attempt to destroy incriminating evidence. However, investigators found a Ceska pistol in the ruins, which ballistics experts linked to the murders of one Greek and eight Turkish kebab sellers in incidents throughout Germany from 2000.

The gang is also thought to have been behind a bomb blast at Düsseldorf railway station in 2000, in which several Jews from the former Soviet Union were hurt.

Independent

Neo-nazi link to 10 murders in Germany

German investigators say they can confirm evidence to link the murders of 10 people to far-right extremists.

Over the past seven years eight Turks and one Greek, all of them food vendors, have been shot in the face while at work, most on small kebab stalls. The tenth victim was a policewoman shot in 2007.

Last week two men were found dead during the search of a burnt-out house and caravan in the east German town of Zwickau. Two handguns believed to have been used in the murders were discovered. A woman at the scene was arrested. All three are known to have had previous links to far-right groups.

German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said: “What has been reported so far is alarming. We now need a comprehensive explanation and what needs to be the focus is whether or not the suspects belong to a right-wing extremist network.”

Some community representatives think the authorities have been slow to make the link to extremists. Ken Kolat, Chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, said: “There is unfortunately no real discussion right now in Germany about racism or racist terror. This discussion has to start immediately.”

euronews

Scheme to spot potential right-wing extremists in Lancashire

Potential right-wing extremists in Lancashire are to be spotlighted in a scheme originally set up to track would-be terrorists following the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks.

Police said the ground-breaking counter-terrorism programme Channel, which has so far concentrated at Islamic extremism, has been widened to take account of the rise in right-wing extremism in the county. Parents, teachers, community leaders and police officers are referring children and young adults who they feel may be at risk of being radicalised by groups such as the English Defence League.

Officers who run the Channel project said they had redrafted programmes and guidance in response to the growth of right-wing organisations. The move comes after Norway mass murderer Anders Behring Brevik was said to have been motivated by his extreme right-wing ideologies.

Since April’s high-profile EDL demonstration and counter-protest in Blackburn, in which 12 people were arrested, police said the project has received a number of referrals.

Channel is a national safeguarding initiative for individuals considered vulnerable to recruitment by violent extremists. It is an early intervention strand of the Government’s counter-terrorism ‘Prevent’ strategy.

Insp Bilal Mulla, Lancashire’s Channel co-ordinator, said: “Channel is not a tool for spying. It is making people understand there may be vulnerable people who are targeted by those with radical views who had a different agenda. It is not about criminalising people, it is early intervention before radicalisation. Think about what happened in Norway. Do we really want that sort of thing to happen in Lancashire?”

Insp Mulla said he wanted to encourage people to refer any ‘signposts’ of right-wing or other types of extremism to his team.

“It is not much different to child sexual exploitation. It can happen online and people are ‘groomed’ into a certain belief and ideology. We are constantly seeking more referrals and we want people to understand what we do and what Channel is for. It is about us building trust and confidence and making sure the right messages get out. We put interventions in place, not investigations.

"If someone is not suited for the Channel project, we pass them on to other authorities such as Youth Offending, mental health practitioners, probation for example. Just because Channel doesn’t take them on, doesn’t mean there are not other interventions available.”

Since the EDL protest and counter-demonstration was held, Channel has had referrals from adults concerned about children being ‘radicalised’. They said they had to update their literature to cater for the threat to community cohesion from right-wing groups. Insp Mulla said: “We get referrals from a wide range of agencies and yes, more of these referrals are now for people associated with groups like the EDL.”

In one case, a teacher referred a pupil for a race hate crime. His school is now working with the Channel team to look at his behaviour and his case will be put before the next panel later this month.

Insp Mulla said: “Teachers should be looking out for key indicators. Is the child not engaging with other communities? Are they writing concerning things in their exercise books like the 7/7 bombers did? We did have a number of individuals reported to us by our colleagues in the police after the EDL march. There were signs of vulnerability and it was right of the officers to flag it up. We spoke to their parents and dealt with it as low level criminality.”

The Channel programme has recently been streamlined to bring together experts from all agencies in the county to sit on one panel every two months, giving a more consistent approach to the referrals they assess from across Lancashire.

Lancashire’s counter-terrorism exercise ACT (All Communities Together) Now, which was the first of its kind in the country in 2008, has also seen a shift in emphasis to include right-wing extremism scenarios. Community Cohesion Sgt Colin Dassow, who runs the courses, said: “Right-wing extremism is having a big influence on what we do.”

To contact Channel, call 01254 353638.

This is Lancashire

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Birmingham barrister set to stand as BNP election candidate

A Birmingham barrister is set to stand in the General Election as a BNP candidate, according to the party’s website

Robert Grierson will contest Sutton Coldfield – which is held by Conservative Andrew Mitchell with a majority of more than 12,000.

Mr Grierson has been a barrister for 18 years specialising in tax, trust, wills and estates work. He is currently a door tenant at St Philip Chambers in Birmingham city centre, which means he works with the Chambers but is not a member.

James Burbidge QC, head of the Chambers, said he was previously unaware of his involvement with the BNP.

“Mr Grierson’s political persuasions, his beliefs and his association with the British National Party were not known to Chambers when he applied for and was accepted for a door tenancy,” Mr Burbidge said. “As is well known across the Midlands and in the wider legal community, St Philips Chambers operate a strict non-discriminatory policy towards its members, staff, lay and professional clients and members of the public alike.”

Mr Grierson and the BNP were unavailable for comment but he told the BNP website he believed he had a chance of making an impact on May 6.

“I am certain I can provide an effective challenge to the sitting Tory MP in Sutton Coldfield,” he said.

According to the website, Mr Grierson was born in Witton and educated at King Edward’s School before attending Downing College Cambridge, the same as BNP leader Nick Griffin.

MP Tom Watson (Lab, West Bromwich East) said the revelation that a barrister was standing in the West Midlands for the BNP would trouble many in the business community. He said: “I’m sure no self-respecting business would want to use the services of a barrister standing for a party which holds such extreme views.”

Birmingham Mail

BNP bid to lure lad in school

A dad branded the British National Party "despicable" last night for trying to recruit his son by sending leaflets to his school

Tom Hunter, 13, was targeted by the right-wing extremists after he stood for the UK Youth Parliament. He was shocked when he opened a letter left for him at the school office and found it contained BNP leaflets. Tom said: "I was appalled. They are fascist and racist."

Dad Paul, 47, a lawyer from Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham, said: "Targeting anybody so young is despicable. Everything the BNP stands for, I find disgusting."

Ironically, one of Tom's relatives is standing against BNP leader Nick Griffin at the general election. Lib Dem candidate Dominic Carman, married to Tom's cousin, said: "No other party targets children this age - it's outrageous. But the BNP don't operate by normal standards."

A BNP spokesman said Tom's parents were "narrow-minded" for not liking the party, adding: "If he's too young to be sent information, he's too young to take part in a Youth Parliament."

The Sun

BNP fights extremism strategy

Party leaders seek to 'derail' government scheme to combat violence

British National Party leaders were under fire yesterday after it emerged that they were plotting to "derail" a government programme aimed at quashing violent extremism throughout the UK. A leaked email to BNP councillors revealed that the party is running a secret campaign to destabilise the Prevent strategy, set up three years ago to tackle "the specific problem of a small minority of young Muslims being attracted to violent groups".

The Home Office strategy, originally called "Preventing Violent Extremism", pledged £45m for local initiatives designed to coax youngsters away from "individuals preaching hatred and violence in the name of Islam" and integrate them into their communities. However, it was "rebranded" last year to take in wider issues, including the threat from political extremism, following complaints that the programme stigmatised the Muslim community. Councils have now been ordered to establish their own Prevent strategies to combat extremism in their areas.

The Secretary of State for Communities, John Denham, said: "At the current time, the greatest terrorist threat remains that from al-Qa'ida-linked violent extremism. At the same time, we also need to tackle other potential support for violent extremism, including that from racist and fascist groups."

The BNP has complained that the modified strategy is now allowing councils to target the party and it members – and it has enlisted its councillors in an attempt to undermine the strategy. In a councillors' bulletin last month, the BNP councillor liaison officer, James North, told colleagues: "Due to complaints that [Prevent] was picking on Muslims they widened it out to include all extremism and implied that they were also targeting right-wing extremism. In some areas they focus their energy on areas where we are active – eg target wards.

"If you have any knowledge of a Prevent strategy in your area could you please send information back, so we can build a more widespread picture of areas that are affected and then we can get local groups active to derail it before it takes hold."

Mr North said yesterday that the BNP wanted to "derail attempts by the Labour regime to link the BNP to right-wing violent extremists". He added: "The email asks BNP councillors for details of all Prevent attempts to link the BNP to extremists so that the BNP can take measures to circumvent these false allegations and smears." But the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight called on the BNP to explain why it was trying to destabilise a government policy.

"This project protects the public from terrorists and violent extremists," a Searchlight spokesman said. "The fact that the BNP is trying to undermine it speaks volumes about its organisation and its membership. If it is a truly peaceful and democratic organisation, what is it afraid of?"

IoS

Can theatre beat the BNP?

A number of theatre pieces are addressing the rise of rightwing extremists – but can the arts community really hope to make a difference?

Two weeks ago I attended the launch rally of Expose the BNP, a campaign that aims to equip journalists with the tools to report effectively on the British National Party. During the question-and-answer session, Ranjit Atwal of the Broadway, a small arts venue in BNP heartland Barking, stood up to tell us about a politically-inspired festival they're curating in April, called Spin the Election. The programme will include A Day at the Racists, a new play by Anders Lustgarten that opened this week at the Finborough Theatre in South London.

Lustgarten's play is just one of several theatre events in the capital at the moment that address the rise of the BNP. But can these productions really further the debate around racism, or is this merely the liberal middle-class arts community trying to make itself feel current and politically engaged? Say what you like about the London theatre fringe, but it's hardly the traditional stomping ground of your average BNP supporter.

The issue is interesting. Theatre may often preach to the converted – just think of David Hare – but that's not to say that the converted don't have a lot to learn. Set in Barking, A Day at the Racists charts how a former Labour activist's growing discontent leads him into the lap of the local BNP, a group whose supposed modernisations make it possible for him to forget his instinctive abhorrence of the party's racist and exclusionary message. Lustgarten's brilliantly observed play forces us to look beyond the comfortable anti-BNP rhetoric of the liberal media and consider the conditions that make an extreme right-wing party seem, at least for a very tiny percentage of the electorate, a valid political option. Rex Obano's play Decade, produced at Battersea's Theatre503 earlier this year, does something similar, forcing audience members who might not ordinarily be sympathetic to empathise with BNP members by casting them as silent supporters at a local party meeting.

But can this kind of theatre go further, and directly influence communities themselves? Karena Johnson, recently appointed artistic director of the Broadway, believes it can: by talking directly to the people it describes, she reasons, it might lead them to reconsider their own engagement with the politics around them. I don't doubt Johnson when she says the Broadway's audience is very different from the Finborough's – she describes the Barking community as proudly working-class, and says she expects the play to receive a much more lively reception in east London. I'd be thrilled if she were right, but I'm just not sure it can.

I get the uncomfortable feeling, particularly when reading the marketing material from another current BNP-inspired play, Philip Ridley's Moonfleece – the press release of which tells us that the show will be touring to "some of the UK's most disadvantaged areas, where the British National Party has made recent gains, playing to audiences that rarely see challenging, professional drama" – that this desire to change things is really just a conceit, albeit laudable, of the middle-class arts establishment.

Theatres across the country, even those in the most disadvantaged locations, such as the Doncaster Little Theatre – where Moonfleece is also playing – tend to be patronised by already open-minded members of their local communities; it's not often that this includes potential BNP supporters. The stark truth is that it's not easy to reach the type of people the producers would most like to get to. There's only so far that theatre can go.

Guardian

Lincoln student becomes target on neo-Nazi site

A University of Lincoln student has been put on “Redwatch”, a website used by fascists and other right-wing extremists to locate and target anyone involved in anti-fascist or anti-racist movements.

Tom Myhill is the president of the Socialist Students branch in Lincoln. He regularly attends demonstrations that campaign against racist organisations. He said he was angry but not totally surprised when he found out he had been put on the site, saying: “I didn’t think they’d take too long to track me down.”

He initially found he had been placed on the website when he decided to check his MySpace page and found a message on there from someone he didn’t know, saying he’d been put on the website.

“It just so happened that I decided to check my MySpace for the first time in months, when I saw the message and checked [Redwatch]. I found a little section dedicated to me, it almost looked like a personal fan site.”

The politics student said he was embarrassed, saying Redwatch had deliberately picked certain pictures to depict him in an inappropriate and misleading way. But he joked: “I also found their choice of pictures flattering. They made it look as if they fancied me.”

All of the information and images that have been put on the website have been taken from what is publicly available on social networking sites; in his case, MySpace and Facebook. Myhill is urging students to check what content they store on these sites is accessible by anyone, from images and videos to personal contact details. He also wants to see the Students’ Union raise awareness on the issue. “It’s an important issue. Something has to be done to protect the safety and well-being of students, as well as to preserve their dignity, which is something I don’t have much left of now.”

Myhill has threatened Redwatch with legal action over the use of certain copyrighted pictures, and has contacted Google in an attempt to remove the site from its results.

“If Redwatch could easily be shut down then it should be. I’m not scared of these Nazi scumbags, even if they’re harbouring some sort of physical attraction towards me.”

The Linc

Warning on rise of neo-Nazi groups as police chief stabbed

Investigators in southern Germany warned yesterday of a rise in far-right criminal activity after a police chief known for leading a crackdown on neo-Nazi groups was stabbed in the chest by an unknown attacker outside his family home.

Alois Mannichl, head of the police force in the Bavarian city of Passau, had to undergo emergency surgery to repair a knife wound close to his heart after the attack on Saturday evening. His assailant, who lay in wait for his victim at his front door, said he brought greetings from the "national resistance", a term that is often used by right-wing extremist groups to describe their movement.

If a neo-Nazi link is confirmed, the murder attempt would mark a far more aggressive strategy from local groups, said the Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann.

"Attacking a working police chief, to punish or bully him for his actions against the far-right, is a totally new kind of violence," he said. "It is an escalation of violence."

Mr Mannichl (52) has made no secret of his desire to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to the activities of far-right groups in and around Passau since becoming chief of police in 2004. He has ordered the force to step up its observation of neo-Nazi rallies and earlier this year asked it to carry out a series of raids on groups' headquarters.

According to the Bavarian interior ministry, the number of crimes related to right-wing extremists in Passau has more than doubled in the past year, with 83 reported incidents so far in 2008 compared to 40 in 2007.

Mr Mannichl was an obvious target for the more aggressive elements as he was seen as such a "strong enemy", Mr Herrmann said yesterday.

Investigators said his attacker, described as bald and 6ft 2in, delivered a threatening message before plunging the knife into his chest, warning Mr Mannichl: "You'll not trample on the graves of our comrades any more."

In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse , Mr Herrmann said the attack would reopen the debate over whether the far-right NPD party should be banned.

Only last month the organisation, which endorses an array of anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and racist policies but continues to receive public funding as a legitimate political party, launched a withering verbal attack on Mr Mannichl, accusing him of harassing its members at a commemorative rally to Germany's war dead.

Irish Times

German police raid homes in far-right Internet probe

Police in eight German states raided the homes of 23 suspects on Thursday as part of a lengthy probe into the illegal sale of right-wing extremist literature and audio material, the Federal Crime Office (BKA) said.

A further 70 suspects had been identified in the investigation, which began in August 2006 after the German unit of U.S. online auction company eBay Inc (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) reported the sale via the Internet of far-right material, the BKA said.

Twenty-four computers, around 50 memory devices and some 3,500 right-wing extremist CDs and LPs had been seized in Thursday's raids, it added.

"The measures are a continuation of ... the fight against right-wing extremism on the Internet," the BKA said. "They show that the Internet is not a law-free zone and that online auctions are also checked from incriminating content."

German laws ban Nazi emblems like the swastika but grant public funds to the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), whose followers implicitly back racist and some Nazi ideas.

The German government follows a so-called "four-pillar" strategy against right-wing extremism that was agreed in 2002. It seeks to educate on human rights, strengthen civil society and promote civil courage, help integrate foreigners and target suspected far-right extremists.

Reuters

BNP is linked to petition against new 'mega-mosque'

Right-wing extremists have manipulated a Downing Street petition to stir up racial hatred over the building of a "megamosque" in east London, an investigation can reveal.

More than 270,000 people have signed a petition on the Number 10 website that calls for the scrapping of plans to build Europe's largest mosque close to the main site of the 2012 Olympics. Tablighi Jamaat, the Islamic sect behind the mosque, has been accused of having links to Islamist terror groups, prompting a concerted campaign to block the project.

But the Daily Mail's sister paper, the Evening Standard, has learned that the anti-mosque campaign has been infiltrated by the British National Party, which has told its members to sign the Downing Street petition. The petition was originally posted on the No 10 site by a Right-wing extremist called Jill Barham. Ms Barham writes an online blog under the name English Rose, where she has laid claim to being author of the petition. The blog has links to several Right-wing and extremist websites.

Anti-fascist campaigners claim Ms Barham is a close friend of Chris Hill, a notorious BNP activist based in Lancaster. The involvement of fringe extremists from the North-West in what is essentially an east London planning matter has caused alarm and will lead to criticism that Downing Street should have blocked the petition over its use of inflammatory language.

The petition, which closed yesterday with 277,040 signatories, states: "We, the Christian population of this great country England, would like the proposed plan to build a mega-mosque in east London scrapped. This will only cause terrible violence and suffering and more money should go into the NHS."

Mayor Ken Livingstone condemned the petition for stirring up vitriol. "It is quite clear that this piece of vicious BNP propaganda, based as usual on entirely fabricated information, is solely designed to damage good community relations. It is wrong that such invented and falsified petitions provide a platform for those who would like to use them to create tensions among Londoners."

The BNP today admitted orchestrating a campaign to get its members to sign the petition. An email had been sent out to supporters with links to the petition on the Downing Street website. The party used a similar tactic to try to influence a poll on the Evening Standard's website that had simply asked: "Are you in favour of the £100million mosque?" The poll was withdrawn after the discovery of the extremists' attempts to manipulate the outcome.

BNP leader Nick Griffin said: "We have publicised the petition on our website encouraging people to sign and we have had a small part to play in that [reaching 270,000 signatures]. We also had an email campaign to get our people to sign it."

Asked whether he was aware of the English Rose blog or if Ms Barham was a BNP activist, Mr Griffin said: "Even if I knew who she was I wouldn't tell you. She may be involved in the BNP at a local level but I just don't know. I can neither confirm nor deny." The website of Lancaster Unite Against Fascism says that it believes the BNP's local candidate, Chris Hill, is a friend of Ms Barham. The group said today its inquiries indicated Ms Barham ran two websites English Rose and Cry For Freedom, both of them which it described as "rabidly anti-Islamic".

The success of the petition has been seized on by protesters as evidence of the strength of opposition to the mosque.

Newham councillor Alan Craig, a member of the Christian People's Alliance, issued a press release yesterday highlighting the petition's success, although he refused to sign it and admitted he was "wary of the exact wording". He is leading the local campaign against the mosque, planned for an 18-acre site at Abbey Mills next to West Ham Underground station. Mr Craig accused Tablighi Jamaat of being divisive because of its extremist, separatist beliefs.

The French intelligence services have called Tablighi Jamaat "an antechamber of fundamentalism". Two of the 7 July suicide bombers allegedly attended the group's HQ in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Abdul Rashid Bhatti, spokesman for the Abbey Mills Mosque, said today: "Ken Livingstone has exposed the petition for what it is, and we thank him for that. Both in the language used and in the total lack of truth, we are disappointed that people have been so misled for purposes other than genuine public debate. Tablighi Jamaat is a mainstream, non-political Muslim organisation seeking to go about its faith in a peaceful manner."

Daily Mail