Hammerskins: German branch of US-based neo-Nazi group banned

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser banned the extremist far-right group Hammerskins Deutschland as well as its regional branches and the affiliated group Crew 38, the ministry said on Tuesday.

In the early hours of the morning, police officers searched the flats of 28 suspected members of the association in ten German states: Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia and the Saarland.

The German neo-Nazi group is an offshoot of a white supremacist group from the USA and has existed in Germany since the early 1990s.

Hammerskins Deutschland stands against the constitutional order and against the idea of international understanding, the ministry said. The purpose and activities of the association were contrary to criminal law, it added justifying its actions.

Read more: Deutsche Welle