German city declares ‘Nazi emergency’

FRANKFURT:THE eastern German city of Dresden has declared a “Nazi emergency” as officials warned of a rise in far-right support and violence.

The city is the birthplace of the Islamophobic Pegida movement, which holds weekly rallies here, while the anti-immigration Alternative fuer Deutschland (AFD) party won 28% in September regional elections.

Dresden’s city council on Wednesday backed a resolution against far-right extremism with the title “Nazinotstand?” or

“Nazi emergency?”

It was brought by Max Aschenbach, a local councillor for left-leaning satirical party Die Partei, who told the DPA news agency that “this city has a Nazi problem”.

The resolution said the city was “worried that anti-democratic, anti-pluralist, discriminatory and far-right positions which include violence” were on the rise in Dresden.

It called for a “strengthening of a democratic culture”, making a priority of “the protection of minorities, human rights and victims of extreme-right violence”.

BIDEN SLIPS

Former US vice-president Joe Biden has dropped to the fourth position in a new poll of Democrats in Iowa, the first state to vote in the primaries. He also dropped to the third position in New Hampshire, the second state in the primaries. He retains the overall lead over the rest of the field in the Realclearpolitics average of polls.

‘ANGRY’ SUPPORTERS

Trump said on Friday that an “angry majority” of Americans will support him against Democrats’ move to impeach him. “The American people are fed up with Democrat lies, hoaxes and extremism,” he said at a rally in Mississippi. The Dems, he said, “created an angry majority that will vote many do-nothing Democrats out of office in 2020”.