Around the World: Germany

Far-right group banned

Berlin security officials have banned a neo-Nazi group whose name mirrors that of an early Nazi paramilitary force. Berlin state interior minister Ehrhart Koerting said yesterday his ministry had banned the roughly 30-member "Frontbann 24." The original Frontbann, founded in 1924, was a predecessor of Adolf Hitler's Sturmabteilung, or SA.

Koerting said the group rejected basic constitutional freedoms and Germany's democratic system, as well as defaming immigrants and Jews. Displaying or otherwise glorifying Nazi symbols is a crime in Germany.