Germany bans neo-Nazi group, raids members’ homes

BERLIN (Reuters): German authorities raided dozens of locations nationwide on Wednesday after interior minister Nancy Faeser banned a right-wing extremist group accused of spreading Nazi ideology.

The headquarters of the group, dubbed “Artgemeinschaft”, as well as 26 homes belonging to 39 members were searched in the early hours across 12 states, the interior ministry said in a statement.

“This is another hard blow against right-wing extremism and against the intellectual arsonists who continue to spread Nazi ideologies to this day,” Faeser said.

“This right-wing extremist group has tried to raise new enemies of the constitution with its disgusting indoctrination of children and young people.”

German authorities this month banned another neo-Nazi group, “Hammerskins Deutschland” with roots in the United States and raided the homes of 28 members after an investigation lasting more than a year in co-operation with US officials.