Hundreds rally against neo-Nazi march

Protesters were banned from wearing jackboots and bomber jackets

DORTMUND, Germany -- Hundreds of counter-demonstrators rallied on Saturday against a neo-Nazi march in Dortmund, accompanied by a large police presence to keep the two sides apart.

About 1,500 people demonstrated against the march that drew 200 neo-Nazis to the western industrial city on Saturday afternoon.

The city had deployed 2,000 police officers to prevent violence. This goal was achieved, with the only incident reported when leftist demonstrators tried unsuccessfully to break through police lines.

Such marches in Germany have often resulted in violence in the past.

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A court had allowed the neo-Nazis to march despite the city's objection, but with restrictions including bans on beating drums, marching in organised rows and the skinheads' trademark jackboots and bomber jackets.

A common right-wing slogan, "The national resistance is marching here," was also banned by the Muenster court.

A neo-Nazi demonstration of 600 skinheads in Dortmund in October drew 20,000 counter-demonstrators.

A rash of high-profile violent far-right crimes this year have plunged Germans into a painful debate about persistent xenophobia.

President Johannes Rau said on Friday that an anti-racist march by more than 200,000 people in Berlin on November 9 -- anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom that heralded the Holocaust -- was testament to a public will to eradicate the problem.

"I hope this also made it clear abroad that extremists are a small, unwanted minority here and that we will do everything we can to stop them becoming politically respectable," he said.

Official moves towards outlawing neo-Nazi groups have been extended to the Internet in Germany.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Otto Schily on Saturday expressed his worry over the growing danger of extreme-right Web sites.

Speaking at a regional Social Democratic party conference in Karlsruhe, Schily said there are about 800 such sites, with more than 90 percent of them based on servers in the U.S. and Canada -- meaning Germany must seek cooperation on the problem with those countries.

Schily also justified the government's plan to seek a ban on the far-right National Democratic Party, the strongest-yet political measure against the rising wave of hate crimes that have claimed at least three lives this year.

Schily has said the party, known by its German initials NPD, has similarities to the Nazis.

"Our country cannot tolerate organised anti-Semitism," he said.

Yet another in the wave of attacks was reported on Saturday in Minden, located like Dortmund in North Rhine-Westphalia state.

Police said two drunk youths, aged 15 and 16, attacked two African asylum-seekers on Friday evening, hitting one in the face who hit him back.

The 15-year-old also shouted "Sieg Heil!" and gave the Hitler salute, and both made racial insults.

The attackers threw beer bottles at the 18 and 32-year-old victims as they left the scene.

Arrests were made quickly after many onlookers witnessed the attack.

The two suspects spent the night in custody but were released on Saturday as the investigation continued.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

German parliament backs far-right ban
December 8, 2000
Neo-nazis march through Berlin
November 25, 2000
Berlin stages mass rally against racism
November 9, 2000
Anti-nazi laws extended to internet
December 12, 2000

German Federal Parliament
Simon Wiesenthal Center
NPD

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