EJP | In Depth | World Cup | Neo-Nazi groups adopt the Iranian president as a celebrity

	Thursday, November 20, 2008 22 Cheshvan, 5769

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Neo-Nazi groups adopt the Iranian president as a celebrity

Updated: 22/Jun/2006 15:52

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NUREMBERG (EJP)--- German neo-Nazis who are banned from wearing swastikas and other Nazi symbols used Iranian football shirts at the World Cup to show their prejudice.

Police have confirmed that known neo-Nazis have been spotted wearing the shirts and distributing anti-Jewish leaflets outside World Cup venues.

A spokesman for the German police said they were powerless to prevent the practice, and no arrests had been made since wearing an Iranian football jersey or supporter's t-shirt is not a crime.

All that officers have been able to do is to confiscate the propaganda leaflets and order the thugs to move on.

Under German law, any public portrayal of Nazi symbols is banned except for historical or educational purposes, and displaying Nazi signs or using Nazi gestures are criminal offences punishable by up to five years' imprisonment.

Rightwing groups and neo-Nazis often get around these restrictions by using modified Nazi symbols in coded form or adopting new symbols that gain anti-Semitic relevance.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caused outrage last October when he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and later in December when he described the Holocaust as "a myth", suggesting that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska.

"If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel," he said.

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In response to the incident, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his government had summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires to make "unmistakably clear" its displeasure, but neo-Nazi groups were quick to adopt the Iranian president as a celebrity for their cause.

Earlier this month, Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein joined more than 1,000 people attending an anti-Ahmadinejad demonstration organized by German Jewish groups and trade unionists just before Iran’s match against Mexico.

He said: "Let's act decisively against extremism and anti-Semitism whatever its form" and added that Germany as a whole could be counted on to stand by its Jewish citizens and the state of Israel.

The rally passed without incident, and Beckstein was keen to stress that it was not directed against the Iranian people or the Iranian football team but against Ahmadinejad's "intolerable verbal assaults".

Ahmadinejad had suggested he could turn up to support the Iranian national team at the World Cup but many groups, including Germany's Jewish community, called for him to be banned from attending the tournament.

And protest groups called for him to be arrested under similar legislation used in Austria to have British historian David Irving arrested for denial of the Holocaust.

Officials, however, are comforted by the fact that Iran will not progress to stage two of the World Cup after losing 3:1 to Mexico and 2:0 to Portugal.

In the lead-up to the tournament, racial taunts, anti-Semitic slogans and Nazi symbols threatened to become a major part of German neo-Nazi football fans’ arsenal, but a major anti-hooliganism push by German authorities managed to quell the threat.

Day in history

1945: Germany

The Nuremberg Trials begin. Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals of World War II start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.