European blood
11-14-2011, 04:54 PM
Recent revelations have led to fresh calls for a ban on far-right political parties in Germany after police arrested a further suspect belonging to a terrorist group linked to a string of racially-motivated murders.
Calls for a comprehensive ban on neo-Nazi organizations have been given fresh impetus following revelations that a far-right terror cell in all probability was responsible for a series of immigrant murders across Germany.
On Monday, the interior minister of the German state of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann, said it was time for a new attempt to ban the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, or NPD. Herrmann called the party "dangerous" and a "threat to the constitution."
Dieter Graumann, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the DPA news agency that banning the NPD was "absolutely essential."
"The NPD avails itself of party privileges to enormous advantage. It uses the parliamentary platform to spread its poison and is being subsidized by taxpayers' money," said Graumann.
The chairman of the Green party, Cem Özdemir, also said it was time to "seriously consider an NPD ban."
"We need to talk about the NPD and far-right radicals becoming hegemonical in many parts of Germany; in particular, in the east of the republic," he added.
Renewed calls for a ban on neo-Nazi organizations came as the far-right terrorist group, the "National Socialist Underground" (NSU), were accused Monday of being behind two bomb attacks in Cologne.
Terror cell links
In the latest in a series of charges, new evidence has suggested members of the organization may have detonated a nail bomb in an area of Cologne highly populated by Turkish immigrants in 2004, injuring 22 people. The group was also accused of seriously injuring a 19-year old German-Iranian girl after detonating a bomb in her parent's grocery store in 2001.
Friedrich referred to a "new form of terrorism"
On Sunday, German police made yet another arrest in their investigation into the neo-Nazi ring. A 37-year-old man was arrested in Hamburg on suspicion of being a member of the NSU, which is also linked it to the fatal shootings of nine immigrant food vendors, as well as a policewoman in southern Germany.
Speaking in Leipzig on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced shock at what she described as "far-right terrorism."
"That is a disgrace. That shames Germany. We will do everything possible to investigate it," she said during a speech at a conference of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Investigative authorities under fire
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich also called for an investigation into how anti-subversion agents had failed to connect the murders with the right-wing extremist movement.
"Now it is all about finding out whether or not more people were involved, whether there is some kind of network and finding out what dimensions all this has," Friedrich told reporters.
"From all the evidence we have so far, it looks like we are experiencing a new form of far-right terrorism," he said.
Investigative authorities have come under fire in recent days for their failure to link the NSU with the string of racist attacks.
Andrea Nahles, general secretary of the opposition Social Democrats, suggested in an interview with DW-TV that authorities have overlooked violent attacks from right-wing organizations. This is proof that "once again public institutions are blind in their right eye," she said.
Extremism expert Bernd Wagner also warned on Monday that until now the terrorist threat of right-wing militant groups has been grossly neglected. "Anyplace a Nazi group with propensity to violence exists, there is the potential for the emergence of a violent terrorist cell," Wagner told DW-TV.
The German state of Thuringia is expected to open an inquiry on Tuesday into how the state's intelligence department lost sight of the three suspected members of the NSU accused of the murders.
Those shootings of eight Turkish men and one Greek man, which took place between 2000 and 2006, became known as "The Kebab Murders."
Sunday's arrest followed a claim by police on Friday that they were investigating a 36-year-old woman charged with arson and membership in a terrorist organization.
Two other male suspects, who lived with the woman, were found dead earlier last week in a burning camping van in Eisenach, eastern Germany. It is believed the men may have shot themselves after being rounded up by police following a failed bank robbery.
Investigators suspect the arrested individual had been in contact with the trio since the 1990s. It is believed that he had given the alleged terror cell his driving license in 2007 - as well as his passport some four months ago.
It is also alleged that the man had rented camping vans for the three, one of which was used in the attack on police that killed a 22-year-old female officer in the German city of Heilbronn in 2007.
The murders are believed to be the longest wave of right-wing violence in Germany since World War II.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15529994,00.html
Calls for a comprehensive ban on neo-Nazi organizations have been given fresh impetus following revelations that a far-right terror cell in all probability was responsible for a series of immigrant murders across Germany.
On Monday, the interior minister of the German state of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann, said it was time for a new attempt to ban the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, or NPD. Herrmann called the party "dangerous" and a "threat to the constitution."
Dieter Graumann, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the DPA news agency that banning the NPD was "absolutely essential."
"The NPD avails itself of party privileges to enormous advantage. It uses the parliamentary platform to spread its poison and is being subsidized by taxpayers' money," said Graumann.
The chairman of the Green party, Cem Özdemir, also said it was time to "seriously consider an NPD ban."
"We need to talk about the NPD and far-right radicals becoming hegemonical in many parts of Germany; in particular, in the east of the republic," he added.
Renewed calls for a ban on neo-Nazi organizations came as the far-right terrorist group, the "National Socialist Underground" (NSU), were accused Monday of being behind two bomb attacks in Cologne.
Terror cell links
In the latest in a series of charges, new evidence has suggested members of the organization may have detonated a nail bomb in an area of Cologne highly populated by Turkish immigrants in 2004, injuring 22 people. The group was also accused of seriously injuring a 19-year old German-Iranian girl after detonating a bomb in her parent's grocery store in 2001.
Friedrich referred to a "new form of terrorism"
On Sunday, German police made yet another arrest in their investigation into the neo-Nazi ring. A 37-year-old man was arrested in Hamburg on suspicion of being a member of the NSU, which is also linked it to the fatal shootings of nine immigrant food vendors, as well as a policewoman in southern Germany.
Speaking in Leipzig on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced shock at what she described as "far-right terrorism."
"That is a disgrace. That shames Germany. We will do everything possible to investigate it," she said during a speech at a conference of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Investigative authorities under fire
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich also called for an investigation into how anti-subversion agents had failed to connect the murders with the right-wing extremist movement.
"Now it is all about finding out whether or not more people were involved, whether there is some kind of network and finding out what dimensions all this has," Friedrich told reporters.
"From all the evidence we have so far, it looks like we are experiencing a new form of far-right terrorism," he said.
Investigative authorities have come under fire in recent days for their failure to link the NSU with the string of racist attacks.
Andrea Nahles, general secretary of the opposition Social Democrats, suggested in an interview with DW-TV that authorities have overlooked violent attacks from right-wing organizations. This is proof that "once again public institutions are blind in their right eye," she said.
Extremism expert Bernd Wagner also warned on Monday that until now the terrorist threat of right-wing militant groups has been grossly neglected. "Anyplace a Nazi group with propensity to violence exists, there is the potential for the emergence of a violent terrorist cell," Wagner told DW-TV.
The German state of Thuringia is expected to open an inquiry on Tuesday into how the state's intelligence department lost sight of the three suspected members of the NSU accused of the murders.
Those shootings of eight Turkish men and one Greek man, which took place between 2000 and 2006, became known as "The Kebab Murders."
Sunday's arrest followed a claim by police on Friday that they were investigating a 36-year-old woman charged with arson and membership in a terrorist organization.
Two other male suspects, who lived with the woman, were found dead earlier last week in a burning camping van in Eisenach, eastern Germany. It is believed the men may have shot themselves after being rounded up by police following a failed bank robbery.
Investigators suspect the arrested individual had been in contact with the trio since the 1990s. It is believed that he had given the alleged terror cell his driving license in 2007 - as well as his passport some four months ago.
It is also alleged that the man had rented camping vans for the three, one of which was used in the attack on police that killed a 22-year-old female officer in the German city of Heilbronn in 2007.
The murders are believed to be the longest wave of right-wing violence in Germany since World War II.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15529994,00.html