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NEO-NAZI

Worries in Switzerland as secret Neo-Nazi concert set to go ahead

An underground concert organised by a violent neo-Nazi organisation banned across Europe ias set to go ahead in the Swiss canton of Valais on Saturday.

Worries in Switzerland as secret Neo-Nazi concert set to go ahead
Image: Sebastian Haak / dpa / AFP

The Edelweiss Concert, which features bands from across the right-wing extremist scene, is being organised by members of the militant, far-right Blood and Honour music network. 

A flyer promoting the concert has been doing the rounds in far-right circles across Switzerland and Europe. 

The flyer, which shows the Matterhorn in the background, does not provide a location for the concert but requires attendees to register their email addresses, before being informed of the location closer to the event. 

READ: Switzerland's SBB suspends 'neo-Nazi' transport police officer for extremist views

The flyer asks attendees not to share pictures of it through WhatsApp or Twitter. 

‘Blood and Honour’

Blood and Honour, founded in England in the 1980s, brings together far-right bands and record labels to organise events raising money for extremist causes. 

Blood and Honour is banned in Germany, Spain and Russia, while it is designated as a terrorist organisation by the Canadian government. 

Three bands are listed as headliners for the event, all of whom have been active for years in the Neo-Nazi music scene. 

Image: Sebastian Haak / dpa / AFP

No police intervention?

Police have been made aware of the concert and are classifying it as “problematic”. Police have told Swiss media they are currently working with local authorities to ensure the population is aware of the threat. 

“In general, Swiss security services take violent extremism very seriously,” a police representative told Swiss newspaper Watson

While the police said they have investigated ways of cancelling or moving the concert, protections on freedom of expression prevent its prohibition. 

The police also indicated they have considered banning foreigners entering the country for the purpose of attending the event, although they would not reveal whether any such bans had already been imposed. 

The concert is said to be the biggest far-right music festival held in Switzerland since 2016’s Rocktoberfest, held in Unterwasser in St Gallen. 

That event attracted over 5,000 Neo-Nazis from across Europe, raising money for the National Socialist Underground organisation in the German state of Thuringia. WOZ reports that the money raised from the concert was used for buying weapons and ammunition for the organisation, as well as to facilitate its expansion. 

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RACISM

‘Biggest threat to our country’: Germany records post-war all-time high in far-right crime

The number of crimes committed by right-wing extremists in post-war Germany jumped to its highest level ever recorded in 2020, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

'Biggest threat to our country': Germany records post-war all-time high in far-right crime
A rally in February 2021 to remember the victims of the racist attacks in Hanau. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Andreas Arnold

Police recorded 23,604 crimes of a far-right nature last year, a jump of over five percent on the previous year, and the highest figure since records began in 2001.

“Right-wing extremism remains the biggest threat to our country,” said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer as he presented the figures at a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that right-wing violence had left a “trail of blood” through Germany in recent years, citing deadly far-right crimes such as the murder of pro-refugee politician Walter Lübcke in 2019 and the 2020 racist attack in Hanau which killed nine people.

The 2020 figure just exceeds the previous high of 23,555, recorded at the height of the refugee crisis in 2016, while the total number of politically motivated crimes also reached a new all-time high of 44,692.

READ ALSO: German police arrest ‘NSU.2’ suspect over neo-Nazi threats

Noting that there had also been a sharp rise in the numbers of left-wing extremist and Islamist crimes, Seehofer said the figures showed a “brutalisation of our society”.

“They are unsettling, above all because they show that the trend of recent years is continuing,” he said.

The number of politically motivated crimes was a “yardstick for the mood in society”, and especially so in a year in which “the pandemic has caused further polarisation”, he added.

German police have recorded “politically motivated crimes” since 2001.

Those categorised as right-wing extremist range from giving a forbidden Nazi salute to murderous attacks.

The latest figures come amid growing concerns in Germany over the rise of violent right-wing extremism.

READ ALSO: What is Germany doing to combat the far-right after Hanau attacks?

A survey carried out in eight of Germany’s 16 states showed that three to four people were targeted by right-wing extremist attacks per day, victims’ association VBRG said Tuesday.

The attacks mainly targeted refugees, migrants and black Germans, said VBRG chair Judith Porath, adding that anti-Asian violence had also increased since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

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