A neo-Nazi demonstration yesterday in Essen turned into a street brawl with trade union members. Housewives, doing their Christmas shopping, joined with the trade unionists to battle the neo-Nazis. It happened when the right-wing “action resistance” group held a rally through the main streets. The police had tried to prevent it, but the neo-Nazis were granted permission by the court here to hold the rally. The local Council of German Trade Unions wanted to hold a counter-demonstration simultaneously but was given permission to do so only when the Nazi rally had been concluded. Angered by the Nazi demonstration, union members, unable to wait for the Nazis to leave, stopped cars bearing slogans favoring the Nazis, dragged their occupants out and beat them up. In all, some 60 cars were damaged. North Rhine Westphalia’s Prime Minister Heinz Kuehn said later on television. “I will no longer tolerate the neo-Nazis to demonstrate in this manner here.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
