LINK


Germans warned of neo-Nazi surge
Anti-racism demonstrators
There is growing concern over the rise in racist attacks
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has urged extra vigilance from the public to help tackle a rise in far-right extremism.

He said there should be no "no-go areas" for foreigners, as he presented an official report showing a rise in neo-Nazi violence last year.

A Turkish-born politician, Giyasettin Sayan, is in hospital following an apparently racist assault on Friday.

There has been growing concern about racist attacks ahead of the World Cup.

Former government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye drew criticism from politicians after suggesting that black people should avoid parts of the former communist East Germany.

German police have warned that far-right groups are planning to use the World Cup as a platform to win publicity.


I think during the world championship everyone can feel safe wherever he will be in Germany
Wolfgang Schaeuble
German Interior Minister

Mr Schaeuble has already warned that the government will take a tough stance against xenophobia during the football tournament, adding that "no one who attempts to attack foreigners, especially people of colour, will succeed".

"We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism," he told reporters on Monday.

Germany's slogan for the World Cup is "A time to make friends" and officials see the 32-nation tournament as a chance to present their country to the world as welcoming, open and tolerant.

The figures in the report by Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution showed a total of 2,448 politically-motivated violent crimes in 2005.

The overall figure for far-right criminal offences was 15,914, compared with 12,553 for 2004. They included 958 violent crimes, up from 776 in 2004.

Extremist violence

The office, which is tasked with fighting extremism and terrorism, also reported that the number of neo-Nazis in Germany rose from 3,800 in 2004 to 4,100 last year.

The number of right-wing extremists ready to use violence also rose from 10,000 to 10,400, although overall number of far-right extremists dropped slightly, the report said.

The number of left-wing extremist acts of violence was reported to have risen dramatically in 2005 - from 375 to 896.

Mr Schaeuble said the violence attributed to right-wing extremists may have increased because they have been holding more organised marches - which in turn attract counter-demonstrations by leftists, often resulting in clashes.

Police unions have called on the government to ban any neo-Nazi demonstrations outside World Cup stadiums.

Image worries

Konrad Freiburg, the head of the police trade union, says these violent scenes could be repeated if the marches are not banned.

"The consequences would be violence and injuries," he said. "But there would also be terrible pictures seen all over the world - in which 200 mad neo-Nazis are being protected by a ring of 1,000 policemen from a counter-demonstration. It's not the image of Germany we want to present."

The suspected racist assault on Mr Sayan in Berlin was just the latest in a series of attacks that have made the headlines this year.

In April, an Ethiopian-born man suffered extensive skull and rib injuries in what was reported to be a racist attack in Potsdam.

neo-nazis.....im more worried about neo-cons

Yip, weze worried. We have good reason to be.

go to http://rossini.ro.funpic.de/OOS.html please. My blog, it is, of a sort.

The thing is, and I haven't covered this on my blog yet, certain German Politicians - who are very friendly toward Dubya - are at fault. The political assaults have been subtle, the personal assaults brutal.

Rex, at the core is there really a difference between the two?

I want to know where are the headlines:
AMERICANS FEAR A RISE IN NEO CONSERVATIVISM


None what so ever.

The two are very closely related. Both are racist and fascist. Both carry a large portion of hate with them. Why not hash ? Silly me, I meant to say, they love to bash...."foreigner's" heads in. There is one difference I should point out. The neo-Nazis here (and there) are fueld by bigger fascists. They's them that are in control and they's them that's under control. (re-phrased from the paraphrase fron the film The Shining with Jack Nicholson). Less than ten days now, till the Worldcup begins. The increase in tension is tangible.

I've been hearing about neo-nazi's in Germany for decades.
I'm assuming with the rise of Bushco, the problem has multiplied?

Sorta like the Fundi-Evangelicals who found a receptive ear,
and now even if yer brain dead, they won't let ya die?
People who sactify life, yet send people to kill and die in Iraq?

Hi Sky ! Old man !

Yes and no. They've been around longer than I have been around, and that's a long time.

The re-unification served to increase their numbers. The highest unemployment rate since nobody knows when helped, them. Merkel being quasi voted in......Merkel was sElected as head of State after a mumbo jumbo mixing of the cards to form an absolutely useless and contradictory "grand coalition"........also helped increase their political strength, imho. Recent remarks, press statements by leading politicians helped fuel the anti-foreigner, anti-immigration, ant-anyone not like me stance the neo-nazis have had since Adi (short for Adolf) kicked the bucket. A total about-face, 180° turn in German politics. imo

You see, the Left is growing here, and with it, the right. We're headed for a crash or a clash, no doubt.
And Dubya's boys flyin in and kidnapping German citizens right off the street and flying them to Gitmo sure aint gonna help us any. Those poor politicians are hard at work trying to help us all forget that. The media here is, btw, starting to sound a lot like a voicebox for the Govt. Damn, how I hate to hear pro-Govt. propaganda early in the morning. The friggin idiots think Das Volk is ignorant.