SHAFAQNA- German police arrested four suspected members of a far-right group in nationwide raids, following race-related attacks that included the shooting of a Kurdish student in the city of Leipzig last month.
Police arrested three men and one woman Wednesday from the Old-school Society (OSS), a German far-right group which was under surveillance for the last several months.
They were reportedly planning bomb attacks on Muslims, immigrants and the German republic itself. Officers found explosives and other evidence pointing to planned terrorist attacks.
Kurds in Germany, whose estimated 800,000 Kurdish diaspora population is the largest in Europe, welcomed the arrests.
Just last month, extremists shot a Kurdish student on the streets of Leipzig, allegedly because of his immigrant background. Following the attack, hundreds of Kurds and Germans attended a rally in Leipzig called by the Union of Kurdish Students in Syria and Germany (UKSSD) to denounce racism.
Kurdish organizations believe in a racist motive behind the attack on the Kurdish student from Syria, who has miraculously survived.
Across Europe there has been a rise in far-right movements, often accompanied with illegal activities and serious public attacks.
The most noted right-wing attack in recent years was carried out by Norwegian Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Oslo and Utoya in 2011.
“As a representative of Kurdish immigrants I welcome the firm act of German security authorities against these extremists,“ Kahraman Evsen, a member of the German-Kurdish Lawyers Association, said about the latest arrests.
“In an open and tolerant Germany there can be no place for right-wing groups who endanger social cohesion,” Evsen added.
In a statement to Rudaw, Kurdish civil rights movement Komciwan expressed worries about the rise of the far right in Germany.
“We are glad that the authorities intervened in time and thereby prevented another racist crime,“ the group said. “It is very worrying that the right-wing scene in Germany is currently gaining more and more supporters. Therefore we must do more educational work. A bigger participation of German politicians in this work is inevitable,” it said.
According to German newspaper Die Welt, the suspects detained on Wednesday were planning bomb attacks on mosques and dormitories for asylum seekers.
Anya Delen, chairperson of the Kurdish youth organization KJD in Germany, said: “In a country of cultural diversity, which is of great value to all of us, we must not give any room to extremists of any ideology. We rather have to punish them decisively!”
Data released recently by German authorities showed that, in comparison to 2013, crimes against immigrants in Germany have risen by nearly a whopping 200 percent. Worst affected are eastern German states like Saxony or Thuringia, with small numbers of immigrants.
The arrested suspects appeared in court on Wednesday and will appear again on Thursday for first hearings by a judge. They face several years in prison if convicted.
Source : rudaw.net