2024-07-26 19:43:18
At the beginning of July, sympathizers of the right-wing extremist “Third Way” attacked several people at a Berlin S-Bahn station. Arrests have now followed.
Nine suspected violent offenders were arrested in Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony during raids against the right-wing extremist party “Third Way”. The suspects, aged between 17 and 21, are said to belong to the so-called National Revolutionary Youth (NRJ), the youth organization of the “Third Way”, according to police and prosecutors. They are said to have been involved in brutal attacks on political opponents in January and July.
According to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the tiny party “Third Way” is “the most active group within traditional right-wing extremism” in the capital. It openly represents neo-Nazi and anti-immigration positions and is a catchment area for “action-oriented right-wing extremists,” according to the 2023 Office for the Protection of the Constitution report. The NRJ has been active since 2021.
The suspects who have now been arrested are accused of two specific crimes. Firstly, there is an attack on July 6 at Berlin’s Ostkreuz S-Bahn station. Ten to 15 masked men, some armed with brass knuckles and batons, are said to have attacked five people aged 15, 32 and 39. According to information from “Welt”, the people attacked were people who had met at Ostkreuz to travel together to a demonstration against right-wing extremism.
When two federal police officers intervened, they were also attacked, according to the authorities. Several of those attacked were injured and had to be treated. Some of the suspects, who initially fled undetected, were later identified, the authorities said.
The suspects are also accused of involvement in a robbery in January. A 20-year-old man in Prenzlauer Berg was attacked and robbed by six to seven young people for political reasons. According to police reports at the time, the victim was punched in the face and kicked in the legs.
During the raids on Thursday with 130 officers, ten properties were searched, the authorities said. The suspects were found and all the warrants in Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony were carried out. Mobile devices, digital storage media, clothing, a vehicle and dangerous objects such as blank-firing guns, striking tools, gloves and stun guns were confiscated. Propaganda material was also found.
However, no arrest warrants will be applied for, a spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office said when asked. The investigation is being carried out by the police’s state security department, which is responsible for political crimes.
Berlin Left Party MPs Anne Helm and Niklas Schrader called for a ban on the party to be considered. The NRJ had drawn attention to itself through violent acts and martial appearances in public spaces.
The police union warned that young people could be exposed to right-wing extremist thinking via social media and internet platforms. The operators must be held more accountable, demanded GdP regional head Stephan Weh.
According to the report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, members of the “Third Way” and the NRJ were already involved in “verbal and physical confrontations with political opponents” in 2023. In preparation, they regularly practiced martial arts and networked with other right-wing extremists. They organized so-called patrols in Berlin parks and approached young people near schools.