A West Berlin court today granted a temporary injunction against the voluntary liquidation of the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party (NPD) branch in that city. The branch was eliminated last month. The court acted on a complaint filed by a party member who said that the decision to disband taken by the NPD’s general assembly violated a party statute that required a two-thirds vote for such action.
The reputedly neo-Nazi party disbanded after the West Berlin Senate (city council) authorized Mayor Klaus Schutz to ask the Allied occupation powers (United States, Britain and France) to declare the NPD illegal. That request embarrassed and angered leaders of the Federal Government who are still debating whether to ask the High Court in Karlsruhe to declare the NPD unconstitutional. Federal officials maintain that whatever action is taken on the NPD should be uniform throughout the Federal Republic. Observers pointed out that an anomalous situation would exist if the right-wingers were outlawed in West Berlin but continued to function as a party in the rest of West Germany.
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