'Extremism has no place on the Internet': Germany bans neo-Nazi group
Germany's interior ministry announced Tuesday
it had banned a far-right neo-Nazi group that operates mainly via social media
networks.
"From this morning, police measures are under way in four regional states,"
a ministry spokesman said on Twitter, referring to raids targeting the Nordadler (Eagle of the North) group.
"Right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism no longer have a place on the internet," spokesman Steve Alter said.
Raids were underway in North Rhineland-Westphalia, Saxony, Brandenburg and
Lower Saxony, the DPA domestic news agency reported.
Nordadler was the third small, far-right group to be outlawed in Germany this year following several attacks, including a shooting at a synagogue that left two dead in the eastern city of Halle last October.
The group uses the symbols and language of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich to voice nostalgia for the Nazi regime and anti-Semitism.
Nordadler, which had plans to set up a neo-Nazi community in the German countryside, expressed support for the Halle attacker who admitted to anti-Semitic and far-right motives.
According to the ministry, the ban of Nordadler is the 20th ban of a right-wing extremist association by the Interior Ministry, and the third one this year.
In January, the association "Combat 18" was banned, and in March the association "United German People and Tribes" was also added to the ban list.
Last February, another gunman shot dead nine people of migrant origin in the central town of Hanau.
A German neo-Nazi went on trial last week for the 2019 murder of a pro-refugee politician.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has declared far-right extremism the "biggest security threat facing Germany" and promised tougher security measures, including a crackdown on online hate speech
READ ALSO: What is Germany doing to combat the far-right after Hanau attacks?
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"From this morning, police measures are under way in four regional states,"
a ministry spokesman said on Twitter, referring to raids targeting the Nordadler (Eagle of the North) group.
"Right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism no longer have a place on the internet," spokesman Steve Alter said.
Raids were underway in North Rhineland-Westphalia, Saxony, Brandenburg and
Lower Saxony, the DPA domestic news agency reported.
Nordadler was the third small, far-right group to be outlawed in Germany this year following several attacks, including a shooting at a synagogue that left two dead in the eastern city of Halle last October.
The group uses the symbols and language of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich to voice nostalgia for the Nazi regime and anti-Semitism.
Nordadler, which had plans to set up a neo-Nazi community in the German countryside, expressed support for the Halle attacker who admitted to anti-Semitic and far-right motives.
According to the ministry, the ban of Nordadler is the 20th ban of a right-wing extremist association by the Interior Ministry, and the third one this year.
In January, the association "Combat 18" was banned, and in March the association "United German People and Tribes" was also added to the ban list.
Last February, another gunman shot dead nine people of migrant origin in the central town of Hanau.
A German neo-Nazi went on trial last week for the 2019 murder of a pro-refugee politician.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has declared far-right extremism the "biggest security threat facing Germany" and promised tougher security measures, including a crackdown on online hate speech
READ ALSO: What is Germany doing to combat the far-right after Hanau attacks?
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