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Neo-Nazis in attack part of German-Swedish connection

Neo-Nazis wanted for a violent attack on trade unionists at a German motorway rest stop last weekend are reportedly part of a German-Swedish network of far-right extremists.

Published: 21 February 2009 10:22 CET

Neo-Nazis in attack part of German-Swedish connection

The demonstration in Dresden Photo:DPA

A report in Der Spiegel this weekend says one of the suspects was once among the leaders of ‘Blood and Honour Scandinavia,’ part of an international network of neo-Nazis.

Ralf Mohrmann from the Gera state prosecutor which is leading the investigation, said that an arrest warrant has been issued for one of the three Swedes on the bus involved in the attack.

All 41 passengers on the bus are being investigated on possible assault and trespass charges.

The German police stopped the bus – which had been hired by a German member of the NPD – after the attack on the trade unionists. The trade unionists and the fascists had been demonstrating on opposing sides in Dresden on the anniversary of the World War II allied bombing of the city.

But the magazine reports that although the names and addresses of all those aboard were taken, they were allowed to continue on their way because the extent of the injuries inflicted in the attack had not yet become apparent.

A 42-year-old man from northern Hesse had suffered a fractured skull and had to be operated on. Four others were also injured, some seriously.

German security sources told the magazine that Swedish extremists had close connections to the ‘Action Office Rhein-Neckar’ which joins up neo-Nazi groups from south Hesse, Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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