Germany banned a tiny far-right group of neo-Nazi obedience, particularly active on social networks where it "
propagated hatred and advocated the reestablishment of a National Socialist state (
nazi, editor's note
)
", announced Tuesday 1st December the Ministry of the Interior.
Read also: Germany bans a small neo-Nazi group
This group, known as "
Sturmbrigade 44
" or "
Wolfsbrigade 44
", openly displayed its admiration for Adolf Hitler, as well as its "
racist and anti-Semitic
"
ideology
, the ministry said in a statement.
This is the fourth time since the start of the year that the Interior Ministry has banned a tiny far-right group, after precedents in January, March and June.
In the early morning, nearly 190 police officers raided the apartments of eleven members of the group in the regional states of Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Police seized weapons, including knives and crossbows, as well as propaganda items such as swastikas and Nazi flags, banned in the country.
Germany has elevated far-right terrorism to the forefront of threats after several attacks, in particular an aborted one against a synagogue in Halle, in the east of the country, in October 2019 and another of a racist nature in Hanau , near Frankfurt, in February, which had left nine dead.
Antisemitic and Islamophobic crimes and offenses, the vast majority committed by far-right supporters, increased by 14% in Germany in 2019, according to the Interior Ministry.
In June 2019, a conservative elected official in favor of welcoming refugees, Walter Lübcke, was assassinated at his home.
Two far-right sympathizers are currently on trial in this murder.
