Top German Judge Says Far-Right Party Ban Possible
Sat Jan 29, 2005
World - Reuters
By Dave Graham
BERLIN (Reuters) - A controversial far-right party in Germany could be banned despite the failure of an earlier attempt to outlaw it, the head of Germany's highest court was quoted as saying by a newspaper on Saturday.
The remarks of Hans-Juergen Papier, president of the constitutional court, coincided with violent clashes between police and demonstrators protesting at a rally by the National Democratic Party (NPD) in the northern city of Kiel.
Papier said that although the court threw out a government bid to ban the NPD in 2003, future attempts could still succeed.
"The suspension of proceedings to ban (the party) then, does not represent a pre-ordained decision on future efforts to ban (it)," Papier wrote in a guest contribution for Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper, due to appear on Sunday.
"These facts need to be remembered," he added.
In Kiel, demonstrators threw bottles and stones at police protecting some 450 supporters of the NPD as they attended a public address by the party. Discontent over the NPD event drew around 7,000 protesters, according to police estimates.
"There (were) massive and hard clashes," a police spokesman said, adding that tires and rubbish containers had been set on fire and that police had sprayed protesters with a water cannon.
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