 |
German Public Figures Call for Strikes at Right-wing Extremists
German public figures have urged harsher campaigns against neo-Nazi and far-right extremists for their violence.
During the first half of this year, 760 crimes occurred throughout the country involving 838 extremists, the newspaper Bild reported on Monday.
However, only 31 warrants were issued for their arrests, with the remaining 807 extremists acquitted.
Under such grim circumstances, public figures have urged the government to take more effective measures to crack down on extremist crimes.
Konrad Freiberg, vice-chairman of the Police Union, said Monday to the Southwest Radio that cross-state cooperation should be strengthened to effectively suppress extremist crimes, and that all data related to neo-Nazi and far-right extremists should be kept in a data base and made available to all states.
Michel Friedman, vice-chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany (CCJ), believed that fighting against xenophobic attacks should be "the top socio-political issue in the months to come," adding that the most urgent task is to deal with the extremists.
Government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye said Monday that the government will cooperate with the CCJ to launch an all-German initiative for collecting comments and ideas on hitting at the extremists.
Meanwhile, he said a nationwide campaign will be started in late September in Berlin for the purpose.
Heye suggested that all the buses and trolleys should be equipped with an alarm system connected with the police, through which the vehicle can get assistance from the nearest patrolling police car through code.
Chairman Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union called on strengthening teen-age education and preventing the extremists from holding demonstrations and parades.
Senior officials of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Green Party, and Christian Social Union (CSU) also expressed support for taking tougher measures against the far-right extremists.
In This Section
|