Violence and arms trade: "New Strength Party" in the sights of the authorities

The “New Strength Party”, originally active in Thuringia, also attracted attention in the south-west in the spring. Targeted raids are carried out in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The right-wing extremist group is suspected of preparing an act of violence that is dangerous to the state and wanting to buy weapons.

Investigators have targeted several suspected members of the far-right New Strength Party (NSP). According to dpa information, they were the focus of a raid in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. A spokesman for the competent public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart did not want to comment on the subject.

According to the Baden-Württemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the NSP was first noticed in the south-west in the spring of this year. The smallest party had already been active as an association in Thuringia for several years, it said. For Baden-Württemberg, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution currently assigns a number of people in the low double-digit range to the “New Strength Party”. Investigators seized Nazi memorabilia, various weapons that do not require a license and electronic data carriers during the searches.

According to information from the public prosecutor’s office and the State Criminal Police Office, seven properties in Stuttgart, Mannheim, in the Enz district and in the Ludwigsburg district and one property in Bavaria were examined. The public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart and the State Criminal Police Office have been investigating the right-wing extremist group since September. She is suspected of preparing a serious act of violence that endangers the state and of wanting to buy weapons in Eastern Europe.

The investigations are aimed at five suspects between the ages of 19 and 23 – including members of the small party NSP. As the Baden-Württemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution writes on its website, the NSP’s connections to Baden-Württemberg have so far hardly been detectable. There are already offshoots in Erfurt, Gera, Magdeburg and Rheinhessen.