German parliament bans neo-Nazi marches at Holocaust sites News
German parliament bans neo-Nazi marches at Holocaust sites

[JURIST] The Bundestag [official website in German], the German lower house of parliament, Friday approved a ban on marches by right-wing neo-Nazi groups at Holocaust memorial sites as fears increased that such marches would disrupt upcoming 60th anniversary observances of the end of World World II. The legislation could also ban marches intended to glorify Nazi-era crimes. The bill was presented after neo-Nazi groups applied to march through Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate [Berlin Tourist Board website], a prominent symbol during the Nazi period, and past a planned Holocaust memorial. The German upper house, the Bundesrat [official website in German] will now be asked to consider the measure, which it is expected to approve. Neo-Nazi ideology has become a general political concern in Germany in recent months, ever since the far-right National Democratic Party [political website in German] won 12 seats in a state parliament late last year and drew 5000 rights to a march in Dresden last month to mark the 50th anniversary of the city's firebombing in 1945, the biggest neo-Nazi march in Germany since the 1950s. Deutsche Press Agentur has more.