Eight extreme-right politicians were expelled from Germany’s state parliament on Wednesday for sporting a brand of t-shirts closely associated with the neo-Nazi movement.
The lawmakers, from the controversial National Democratic Party (NDP), were forcibly removed by the police, after they refused to leave the chamber of their own accord.
The speaker of the assembly in Saxony, in formerly communist eastern Germany where NDP support is predominantly based, banned the seven men and one woman from the party after being alerted to the clothing by the Thor Steinar brand, which had previously been outlawed by the chamber in 2007, on account of its “Viking” and “Nordic” style slogans which have become closely interlinked with the neo-Nazi movement in Germany.
Authentic Nazi clothing and memorabilia are illegal in the country. Last month, violence broke out at an NDP rally in Hamburg, when 4,000 counter protesters tried to block a 700-strong neo-Nazi contingent from demonstrating. 26 demonstrators were arrested (six neo-Nazis and 20 protestors) following the ensuing violence, as 38 of the 4,000 police officers present were reportedly injured.
Dieter Graumann, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, subsequently appealed to the country’s federal courts to outlaw the BDP, which claims 7,000 members, but is thought to have a far wider unofficial following. The party, described as “the most significant neo-Nazi party to emerge after 1945” in Germany is currently represented in two of Germany’s 16 state parliaments.
The federal government previously tried to have the extremist party banned in 2001, but following the revelation that many high profile members were in fact undercover agents and informants for the German secret services, and the government’s subsequent unwillingness to reveal their identities and activities, the case was dismissed.
British clothing brand Lonsdale has also been widely claimed by neo-Nazi supporters, as the middle four letters of the its branded products spell “NSDA”, part of the German acronym for the Nazi party. The company has strongly disclaimed any links with neo-Nazi movements, however.

EJP