Brandenburg bans two neo-Nazi groups

The German state of Brandenburg has banned two neo-Nazi groups after police raids on 41 addresses of suspected members. Brandenburg, which surrounds the German capital Berlin, had outlawed "Kameradschaft Hauptvolk" and "Sturm 27" because they were a threat to Germany's constitutional order, the state interior minister Jörg Schönbohm said. The ban came into effect after 300 police raided homes in Brandenburg and the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt. Police seized a large number of documents in the raids. The groups had spread neo-Nazi propaganda since their foundation in 2000. It is the third such ban on right-wing extremists in the state. "With this ban, we are sending a clear signal in the fight against right-wing extremism," said Schönbohm. "There is no place for political violence, neo-Nazi propaganda, and racism in our state," he added.