German government applies for ban on far-right party

The German government has applied to the country’s highest court for a ban on the extreme-right National Democratic Party.

The attempt to ban the party -known by its German initials NPD - is the strongest political move yet by the government to fight Germany’s increasingly violent neo-Nazi scene.

Security officials consider the NPD a magnet for violent young skinheads because of its anti-foreigner stance and slogans such as ‘‘Germany for Germans’’.

Though the party is electorally insignificant, the government accuses it of fuelling racist violence and promoting neo-Nazi ideology.

Officials expect that it will take at least a year before the Federal Constitutional Court, sitting in Frankfurt, rules whether to approve the ban.