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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

From Agence France-Presse, via Rawstory [rawstory.com]:

Hundreds of neo-Nazis were expected to congregate Friday, which marks Adolf Hitler’s birthday, for a two-day festival in a small eastern German town where anti-fascist groups have vowed counter-protests.

A major police deployment aims to prevent violence during the “Schild und Schwert” (Shield and Sword, or SS) festival near the Polish and Czech borders that is expected to also attract eastern European extremists.

“You will see police on every corner,” the local police chief told a regional newspaper, with hundreds of officers to brought in from other states, while Polish authorities across the Neisse river border also said they would step up patrols.
Organisers argue that the “Reconquista Europa” festival — featuring far-right music, speeches, martial arts, a tattoo convention and merchandise stalls — is a political event, granting it legal protection under the German constitution.

The Shield and Sword festival organiser is Thorsten Heise of the far-right fringe party NPD, which is openly xenophobic and anti-Semitic but last year avoided a legal ban because of its small membership and limited influence.

Organisers say they expect some 800 guests at the festival in Ostritz, population 2,300, in a remote region of the ex-communist eastern state of Saxony where the AfD scored some of its strongest results nationwide in 2017 elections.

Only thing worse than Illinois Nazis, actual German Nazis.

Original Submission