Germany bans Artgemeinschaft right-wing extremist group

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has banned a right-wing extremist group known as the Artgemeinschaft (Race Community) for short, reported dpa.

Officers raided 26 flats of 39 association members and rooms connected to the association in 12 German states on Wednesday morning, the Interior Ministry said.

The ban of the extremist organization had been in the works for more than a year, the ministry said.

Faeser described the Artgemeinschaft as a "sectarian, deeply racist and anti-Semitic group." Its rather lengthy full name translates as Race Community - Germanic Faith-Community of Living by Nature.

"This right-wing extremist group has attempted to raise new enemies of the constitution by disgusting indoctrination of children and young people," she added.

The ban also covers all subsidiary organizations of the movement, which security authorities believe have around 150 members.

Last week the German Interior Ministry banned the extreme far-right group Hammerskins Germany, the 20th right-wing extremist organization in Germany to have been banned to that point.

The group stands against the constitutional order and against the idea of international understanding, the ministry said in justifying the move. The purpose and activities of the association were contrary to criminal law.

Concerts organized by the group were used to spread their right-wing extremist ideology, also among non-members, it said.