Previous entry: Maryland prisons adopt religious program from popular book
Next entry: After a Life Spent Behind Bars, Out Walks a Free Man
Related
Advertisements *
Advertise Here *
Elsewhere
Subscribe: RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Subscribe: Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Most Popular
- Cult leader Wayne Bent ends ‘religious fast’
- John Travolta’s 16-year-old son dies
- Forensic interview with girl in Tony Alamo case leaked to website
- Priest’s 2006 conviction in nun’s murder stands
- 9 Muslims Are Pulled From Plane and Denied Re-entry; Airline Apologizes Next Day
- Neo-Nazi Violence: German Mayor in Hiding after Far-Right Threat
- Jett Travolta’s death shines spotlights on cult’s quackery
- Judge: smuggled monkey meat needed for religious reasons? Still need a permit
- Tom Cruise gets more mileage out of claim that Scientology cured his dyslexia
- Facts don’t fit claims of FLDS welfare fraud
Alsace seeks legal ban on neo-Nazi rallies booked as ‘private dinners’
More articles on this topic: Hate GroupsOfficials in Alsace have urged the French government to ban private neo-Nazi gatherings after a number of covertly organised skinhead celebrations were held in the region.
Up to 400 neo-Nazis invaded the quiet village of Hipsheim, nine miles from Strasbourg, earlier this month. The group had booked the local hall and sports ground for a “football tournament followed by a “convivial dinner”. Villagers were horrified when, after a cursory kickaround, the visitors unfurled swastika banners and yelled “Sieg Heil” in between chants glorifying the Third Reich.
They later retired to the hall to drink and pogo-dance in front of a giant German imperial eagle. A plaque on the wall bore the inscription “Elsass beim Reich” - a Nazi slogan stating that this corner of France is part of the German empire. Alsace, a German-speaking region, was annexed by Hitler in 1940. Many skinheads travel across the border from nearby Germany, where such events are banned.
Local mayors, politicians and police chiefs are also worried by a recent series of recent attacks on Jewish and Muslim cemeteries. A few days before the skinheads arrived in Hipsheim, graves in a Jewish cemetery near Lyon in southern France were daubed with swastikas and SS symbols. A few days later, a similar attack was carried out on a Muslim graveyard on the outskirts of Strasbourg.
Adrien Zeller, the president of the regional council, said that neo-Nazis were holding regular gatherings that were legal because they were privately organised. Mr Zeller, a member of Jacques Chirac’s Right-of-centre UMP Party, said that the problem had united politicians. “We have to propose a law to ban these kind of gatherings on our national territory,” he said. “It won’t be easy because it touches on the question of liberty and freedom of speech, but we have to do what we can to give mayors more power to stop this.”
Raphael Nisand, a lawyer and local president of Licra (The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism), said: “Even if an event is organised in a public hall, the evening is a private occasion. Because of this, the incitement of hatred which may take place is not a crime.”
Previous meetings in Alsace organised by neo-Nazis from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and France have been called under the pretext of legitimate celebration: a wedding, birthday party or football match. By the time the local mayor realises that he has been duped, it is almost always too late to stop the event.
Edmond Mahler, the mayor of the Alsacian town of Ringendorf, where 800 skinheads gathered in April last year to celebrate the birth of Hitler, said that the legal loophole needed to be closed. “At the moment, the trouble is that once they’re here, you can’t do anything about them.”
What You Can Do From Here
|
Read More Articles On These Topics
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
Previous entry: Maryland prisons adopt religious program from popular book Next entry: After a Life Spent Behind Bars, Out Walks a Free Man
RNB Homepage with latest headlinesFind Related Information
Find Related Books
|
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
