Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Police seal off cemetery to halt neo-Nazi march Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:03:26 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Police seal off cemetery to halt neo-Nazi march \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT BERLIN BERLIN (AP) - More than 1,500 police officers sealed off a military cemetery yesterday and prevented about 1,000 neo-Nazis from marching to the site on Germany's Veterans Day. Police said 12 neo-Nazis were arrested when they tried to drive through the blockade. Police searched hundreds of people and seized numerous weapons, including knives and gas pistols, as well as swastika flags and other Nazi-style paraphernalia. In Hamburg, police arrested 19 men who marched around a war memorial wearing fascist-like black uniforms. The country's interior minister said authorities were considering a ban on rightist groups that have been responsible for a wave of attacks on foreigners. Police posted patrols on all roads leading to the town of Halbe, south of Berlin. About 40,000 German soldiers are buried at a military cemetery there, including many Nazi Waffen SS troops. Authorities had banned rallies at the cemetery, but the neo-Nazis tried to march anyway. To avoid possible clashes, police also stopped several hundred leftists from marching to Halbe. Neo-Nazis have demonstrated at Halbe on Veterans Day for the past two years. The German military scrapped plans to lay wreaths at the cemetery this year because of the possible neo-Nazi presence. Rightist extremists have carried out more than 1,600 attacks this year, mostly against foreigners. Eleven persons have died in the violence, which has led the government to seek ways to curb the influx of foreigners seeking asylum. Some 500,000 immigrants are expected this year. In the latest attacks, three youths hurled stones at a home for asylum seekers in the northern town of Greifswald late Saturday. One person was arrested. In Berlin, three skinheads beat up a man when he refused to give the Nazi salute. Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters said in a newspaper interview that authorities might outlaw far-right groups responsible for the anti-foreigner violence. Mr. Seiters told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper such a ban would give a "clear political signal." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM