Police stop 50 people patrolling the German-Polish border
The German-Polish border in Guben
Source: REUTERS
A right-wing extremist splinter party calls for “border crossings”. On Sunday night, the police picked up 50 people in Brandenburg. The mayor of Guben opposes “vigilante justice”. Opponents of neo-Nazis demonstrate in the city.
I.In action against a so-called border crossing by right-wing extremists on the German-Polish border, the police tracked down around 50 suspects on Sunday night. These people were associated with the extreme right-wing splinter party The Third Way and apparently followed the party’s call for the so-called border crossing, as the police announced on Sunday morning.
The party wanted to take action against migrants at the border. When checking the arrested people, the police also seized pepper sprays, a bayonet, a machete and batons.
The largest group of people, about 30 people, was found before midnight at the village of Groß Gastrose. In addition, a few people have been tracked down on the Neisse dam and a few in the urban area of Guben. They would all have received referrals for the border region around Guben in the Spree-Neisse district. Some of the people apprehended came from the immediate vicinity, but many had also come from other federal states.
Police are still looking for right-wing extremists sympathizers
The police will continue to patrol the area, it said early in the morning. They are on site with numerous emergency services and work closely with the federal police.
In downtown Guben, a 24-hour vigil against racism and for a human right to asylum began on Saturday, which should last until Sunday afternoon. “We don’t want to leave the region to the neo-Nazis. We want to set an example that asylum is and will remain a human right, ”said a message from the organizers.
Protest against right-wing extremists in Guben / Brandenburg
Source: REUTERS
According to the police, around 120 participants were present at the beginning, and there were around 25 during the night. The meeting went off calmly and without interference from outside.
Mayor rejects vigilante justice
The mayor of Guben, Fred Mahro (CDU), said he rejects any form of vigilante justice or the assumption of parts of the state’s monopoly on violence, by whatever group. He was consistently against any form of “border crossing” and asked not to follow this call.
The number of irregular border crossings at the EU’s external borders with Belarus and at the German-Polish border has been increasing for months. In response to Western sanctions, the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko declared in the spring that he would no longer stop migrants en route to the European Union.