Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Police Non-intervention Against Neo-nazi Rally Evokes Protests

August 13, 1984
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

Several organizations of victims of the Nazi regime as well as newspapers protested against the failure of police to intervene against an unlawful demonstration of the neo-Nazi group, skin-heads, in Hannover last weekend. During the demonstration, the 200 rightwing extremists carried banners calling for the expulsion of Jews and foreigners, and displayed Nazi symbols, which are banned in this country.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry of Lower Saxony, Gerhard Roemheld, said in a press conference in Hannover that police were ordered not to move in “in order not to give the neo-Nazis the pleasure of being given yet more political weight.”

He admitted that the demonstration definitely involved several offences, such as carrying unlawful signs and calling for racial discrimination. But Roemheld added that the authorities took into consideration the motives of the extremists, which were to provoke both the police and the public.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement