People demonstrate against neo-Nazis throughout Germany

A protest against neo-Nazis was held yesterday in the town of Bad Nenndorf in northwestern Germany. More than 500 right-wing extremists convened there and their opponents held a counter-event alongside of their march. Also in the town of Gera, in eastern Germany, those opposed to Nazism organized a blockade of a similar march.

Hundreds of people demonstrated against the neo-Nazis at events in Bad Nenndorf, Gera, and Jamel, also in the east. Members of the extreme right also convened in Berlin, where Czech neo-Nazis helped them put up election posters.

In the Lower Saxon town of Bad Nenndorf, roughly a thousand demonstrators came out against the neo-Nazis under the slogan “Diverse, not brown”. Neo-Nazis convened in the morning for a “mourning procession” toward the site of a former Allied interrogation center in the town. The neo-Nazis want to turn the small town into a regular pilgrimage site. Police counted between 500-600 right-wing extremists at the scene. Residents held their own events along the march route showing the neo-Nazis they would not let them take over the town.

In the Thuringian town of Gera in central Germany, opponents of Nazism held a blockade, sitting down and praying for peace. Their action targeted a neo-Nazi music concert, Rock für Deutschland (“Rock for Germany”), which was to have been attended by as many as 1 800 right-wing extremists and at least the same number of counter-demonstrators.

In the small village of Jamel, located near Wismar on the Baltic Sea in the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a music festival was held against the neo-Nazis who have been trying to take over there. The population of the village is comprised almost exclusively of neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists. Signs on the main highway there are said to show the direction of Braunau am Inn, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler, in addition to Paris and Vienna.