German police said to open probe into neo-Nazi music festival
Investigation launched after over 6,000 attendees at ‘Rock against Foreign Domination’ festival are seen striking mass Nazi salute
German police have launched an investigation into a neo-Nazi music festival due to its violation of the country’s anti-Nazi laws, the Daily Mail reported
Over 6,000 attendees, many donning t-shirts with slogans such as “I love Hitler,” were seen striking the Nazi salute at the ‘Rock against Foreign Domination’ festival, which featured performances from a dozen “radical right-wing bands,” according to the report Monday.
Authorities in the German state of Thuringia, where the July 15 festival took place, had characterized the country’s largest neo-Nazi gathering as “relatively peaceful.”
Nevertheless, six people were provisionally placed under arrest and 32 criminal offenses were filed over property damage, illegal drug use, verbal abuse, and the use of signs identifying with anti-Constitutional organizations, the report said.
Germany has strict anti-Nazi laws that include a ban on symbols that glorify Adolf Hitler’s regime or “re-engagement in National Socialist activities.”
But the festival did not take place without intense opposition from Thuringia locals. The town of 3,000 filed a pair court petitions against the neo-Nazi gathering, but judges in both cases ruled that the far-right group had the right to organize.
Some 500 protested outside the concert grounds, holding signs reading “out with the brown plague.” A local hotel also closed its doors, refusing to host the neo-Nazi attendees, the report said.
