Germany sees rise in far-right attacks

Three hundred people recently demonstrated against far-right violence in Passau

The German government is to devise a strategy for curbing the surge of neo-Nazism as far-right offences have increased 30 per cent in 2008

The increase was announced following the attack on the chief of police in the town of Passau in Bavaria, who was stabbed in front of his home by a suspected neo-Nazi.

According to the German Ministry of Interior, the first ten months of 2008 saw up to 12,000 incidents perpetrated by far-Right offenders, including violent attacks, which is a 30 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2007. It is believed the actual numbers are much higher, as many race hate offences are not registered as such.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, condemned the development, calling for more civil courage and saying that the far-Right offences were an attack on all Germans.

But Mrs Merkel is facing pressure from politicians across the spectrum for a ban of the National Democratic Party or NPD, the largest of the country's legally registered far-Right political groups that has often been accused of neo-Nazi links.

Previous attempts to ban the NPD were rejected as unconstitutional by the country's highest court, but an increasing number of politicians are considering another attempt in 2009 due to the drastic increase of far-Right related crimes. MPs have called for a special "democracy summit" to devise a strategy for fighting the rise of neo-Nazism.

In a separate development, an academic study found that over 20 per cent of all Germans are prejudiced against foreigners, while in the impoverished areas of former East Germany one in three citizens are xenophobic.

Telegraph

Thousands protest in German town against neo-Nazi party meeting

Up to 4,000 demonstrators on Saturday protested against a congress of the minority neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), saying there was no place in this Bavarian town for Nazis. A large police turnout prevented incidents after it was feared there could be clashes with left-wing extremists. A police spokesman said only 10 people were briefly detained Saturday.

Various local associations and several mainstream political parties had called for a major demonstration against the NPD congress with the slogan: "Bamberg is multi-colored, not brown." Under Nazism in Germany, brown was the color of Nazi stormtroopers' uniforms, and the color is still associated in German minds with the Nazis.

Shops in the historic centre of this ancient town carried placards in their windows with slogans such as: "Defend democracy, there is no place here for Nazis." Meanwhile some 300 NPD delegates assembled in a concert hall for their two-day meeting.

After the failure of attempts to get the courts to ban the congress, the civic authorities were obliged to permit the rental of the hall by the NPD. A fringe group with only 7,300 members, the NPD is the most radical of the extreme right-wing parties in Germany with a policy which is openly anti-foreigner, racist and anti-Semitic.

It has no deputies in the Bundestag, Germany's federal lower house in Berlin. But it does have deputies in two regional parliaments, in Saxony and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, both in former East Germany, where there is a high unemployment rate.

Although the media were officially allowed for the first time to attend all debates at an NPD congress, several German journalists were refused any access at all to the hall Saturday. They included a team from the main television channel ARD.

ABS/CBN