German authorities said they had carried out dawn raids Tuesday on 33
suspected members or supporters of a neo-Nazi group, carrying out 24
arrests.
The 6:00 am (0500 GMT) raids on the 33 German citizens
aged between 17 and 54 were part of a probe into the banned group
"Aktionsbuero Mittelrhein", prosecutors in the western German city of
Koblenz said in a statement.
They also launched a probe into allegations of grievous bodily harm, serious breach of the peace and use of banned symbols.
"Nineteen
of the accused were arrested for membership of a criminal organisation,
three for supporting a criminal organisation and two for participating
in a serious breach of the peace," the prosecutors said.
According
to prosecutors, the "Aktionsbuero Mittelrhein" gathered information
about political opponents and then "outed" them publicly in a bid to
intimidate them.
"All participants were aware that a climate of hate was being created and fears were being stoked," the statement added.
"Another
area of activity was the openly violent acts against members of the
left-wing scene, both locally and further afield," added the
prosecutors.
However, investigators said there was no link to the
neo-Nazi cell National Socialist Underground (NSU), believed to have
killed 10 people -- mostly shopkeepers of Turkish origin -- in a case
that has shocked the country.
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