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THOUSANDS RESIST
George
Orwell's Big Brother alive
Far-right
crime high in Germany
By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer BERLIN (AP)—A wave of neo-Nazi violence that shocked Jewish leaders and prompted the German government to announce a crackdown on right-wing extremism has continued in the first half of this year, the Interior Ministry said Friday. Police recorded 7,729 right-wing crimes, ranging from use of Nazi symbols to attacks on foreigners, through the end of June. Some 430 involved violence. Far-right offenses in Germany last year reached their highest level since World War II, officials said. The Interior Ministry said this year's figures indicated little change from the first six months of 2000. Hate crimes and the use of violence had likely increased—officials said they were difficult to compare because the counting methods had changed—but were lower than the second half of last year. The figures "make clear that we must not ease our commitment to fight these deeds with all the preventative and repressive means at our disposal," Interior Minister Otto Schily said in a statement. Political and Jewish leaders urged police and judges to clamp down on far-right activity and urged ordinary Germans to make a stand against everyday racism and intolerancean effort that needs to be maintained, Schily said. "Parents, teachers and society have to engage even more with young people to nip these kind of attitudes in the bud," he said. Police statistics showed a steady decline in monthly right-wing crime figures from 1,625 in January to 652 in June, but the ministry warned that some officials have been slow to register offenses and adapt to new ways of classifying politically motivated crimes. Many offenses involve the display of Nazi slogans and symbols outlawed in Germany. On Friday, police in the western state of Lower Saxony removed banners hung from road bridges carrying slogans hailing Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy and a martyr to the extreme right. Friday is the 14th anniversary of Hess' death by suicide in Berlin's Spandau prison. When
thoughts are criminalized, |
