Nine people arrested in operations in Berlin and two other states against a neo-Nazi organisation in Germany

BERLIN, Jul 18 (DPA/EP) –

German security forces arrested nine people on Thursday in a series of raids in the capital Berlin and two other federal states against suspected followers of the neo-Nazi party Der Dritte Weg (The Third Way), authorities confirmed.

Berlin police and prosecutors have said the suspects, aged between 17 and 21, are members of the National Revolutionary Youth, the youth wing of the extremist organisation. The raids, in which ten flats were searched, took place in Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony.

The raids are related to an attack on July 6 against several people at a trolleybus station in Berlin. The suspects are also accused of participating in a robbery in January, in which a 20-year-old man was allegedly assaulted and subsequently robbed for political reasons.

The 130 or so agents deployed in the operations have seized mobile phones, computer storage devices, clothing, a vehicle and various weapons, including blank-firing pistols, industrial tools and electric stun guns, as well as propaganda material.

Der Dritte Weg is a small party with a broad neo-Nazi influence that has very little representation at the local level in some regions of southern and eastern Germany, where it has found some support.