Berlin - Interior ministers from Germany's 16 federal states have agreed to ban marches by neo-Nazi groups in sensitive locations such as the Brandenburg Gate, ahead of today's planned march through Berlin by an estimated 1,000 members of the extreme-right National Democratic Party (NPD), reports Derek Scally. The federal government will now assess the legality of such a ban, criticised by NPD members as an infringement of their constitutional right to free assembly.
The NPD march, the second in the city this month, is to protest at the federal government's proposal to ban the party for having "Nazi characteristics". The march has been rerouted away from the Brandenburg Gate and hundreds of police will be on hand to prevent violence between marchers and an anticipated 1,000 counter-demonstrators.