In Allstedt und Sangerhausen haben zwei Sekundarschulen Besuch von der Polizei. Der Auslöser war eine WhatsApp-Gruppe von Fünftklässlern. Darin hatten sie zu Gewalt gegen Ausländer aufgerufen. Die Polizei hat Gefährderansprachen durchgeführt. (…) Darin hatten die Schüler den Angaben zufolge zu Gewalttaten gegen Ausländer aufgerufen. Dabei wollten sie laut Polizei auch Waffen einsetzen.Demnach wollten sich die Zehn- und Elfjährigen in der WhatsApp-Gruppe mit dem Namen “Kampf” verabreden, um gegen Ausländer vorzugehen. Beamte waren daher in den betreffenden Sekundarschulen vor Ort, um die Fünftklässler über die Folgen solcher Äußerungen aufzuklären. Bei den Gefährderansprachen wurden demnach die Schüler und ihre Eltern über die strafrechtlichen Folgen solcher Ankündigungen informiert. Die entsprechenden WhatApp-Chats wurden sichergestellt.
Officials with the east side rock club Harpos pulled the plug early during a Saturday concert after they were alerted the band lineup was deemed to have Nazi and white-supremacist leanings. Venue owners Ruzvelt Stevanovski and Krystle Dzajkovskalt said Monday they were blindsided by the nature of the metal show and abruptly halted it as the second of seven scheduled bands performed onstage. Stevanovski, a longtime Detroit venue operator who purchased Harpos in January 2017, said he was working the venue’s concession area Saturday evening when he began getting “urgent phone calls” from friends. They were seeing outraged online posts claiming Harpos was hosting a neo-Nazi event. “As soon as I found out, I walked onstage and said: ‘We’re shutting down. Kill the sound,’” he told the Free Press. The crowd at the time numbered between 200 and 250 people, Stevanovski said. The bands onsite left without incident, he said.
siehe auch: Harpos owners apologize for hosting neo-Nazi metal show The rock club canceled a concert mid-show after it realized the bands were affiliated with white supremacy. The owners of Harpos Concert Theatre in Detroit issued a public apology Monday after a metal show with ties to neo-Nazis and white supremacists was booked at the venue over the weekend. The legendary venue came under fire after news began to spread that the seven-band show, dubbed “A Night of Black Metal and Carnage,” was taking place at Harpos on the city’s east side on Saturday night. In lengthy statement, co-owners Ruzvelt Stevanovski and Krystle Dzajkovska said they were “manipulated” and had no idea that the show was associated with National Socialist black metal (NSBM), which broadly refers to bands that promote fascist and white supremacist ideology.
The leader of a group of neo-Nazis who were arrested after marching through the Adelaide CBD has told a court that they have been subject to “outright political persecution by the South Australian police force”. Thomas Sewell, 31, is among a group of 17 members of the National Socialist Network who were arrested in Adelaide over the Australia Day long weekend and charged with various offences including failing to cease loitering and displaying a Nazi symbol. During his first appearance in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, Mr Sewell refused to sign his bail forms despite Magistrate Luke Davis telling him he would free him from custody with strict conditions. (…) Speaking outside court, Joel Davis, a supporter of the men and member of the National Socialist Network, told the media he did not understand why the men had been held in custody since Sunday. “People commit violent offences and get granted bail on the same day — it’s ridiculous,” he said. “I don’t believe they have broken the law — I think they will beat the charges in court.” He told the media that he believed the man charged with displaying a Nazi symbol had a tattoo of insignia on his arm.
A Florida man is heading to trial in Maryland on Monday for an alleged terrorist plot to destroy the power grid in the Baltimore region. The trial began with jury selection. On Monday, more than 27 jurors were chosen to sit on the 36-member body. Court is adjourned until Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 9:15 a.m. According to court documents, Brandon Clint Russell of Orlando, Fla., planned to carry out attacks against electrical substations between 2022 and 2023 in furtherance of his neo-Nazi beliefs. (…) According to prosecutors, Russell is the co-founder of the neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen. In January 2018, He was sentenced to five years in federal prison for possession of explosives, according to the Department of Justice. He was arrested in 2017 after Tampa Police responded to a double homicide at an apartment where Russell had been living with the alleged suspect and two of the victims. Court documents show the four roommates were active members of Atomwaffen. Russell was not home at the time of this incident. The alleged homicide suspect told police he saw Russell participate in online neo-Nazi chatrooms where he threatened to kill people and blow up infrastructure. He also told police Russell had explosive materials in the apartment. (…) Russell allegedly collaborated with Sarah Beth Clendaniel of Catonsville, Maryland in the terrorist plot. According to court documents, the two met in 2018 and they both believed in “accelerationism,” a white supremacist belief that the current government needs to be violently overthrown to create societal and government collapse. Clendaniel was arrested in February 2023 and a search of her home revealed various firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to court documents. At the time, she was prohibited from owning a firearm as a convicted felon. In May 2024, Clendaniel accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to trying to destroy the power grid. In September 2024, she was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Amnesty has called for action. Police in Bratislava have issued a warning about a group of suspected neo-Nazis believed to be carrying out violent attacks in the Slovak capital. The announcement follows a report by the tabloid Nový Čas, which published a story and video footage allegedly showing members of the group kicking and assaulting people, including a foreigner and a man of darker complexion. In one video, a victim can be heard crying, “Help, help, skinheads have attacked me,” as he sits on a pavement. The group, allegedly active on social media platforms like Telegram and TikTok, reportedly shared videos of their attacks. According to the Sme daily, the group previously operated accounts under the names “White Zone” and “White Zone SS,” though these have since been deleted following media reports. Photographs published alongside the videos purportedly show group members using far-right symbols. In one image, a man wears a T-shirt emblazoned with “Good Night Left Side,” a slogan popular among right-wing extremists. Another image, allegedly taken near Bratislava’s Patrónka bus stop, shows group members making the “OK” hand gesture, a sign co-opted by white supremacists as a symbol of white power. A Nový Čas video also features the Totenkopf emblem, a Nazi symbol associated with violence and terror. According to the anti-fascist Instagram account antifa.slovakia, the group, which allegedly calls itself “Valhalla,” formed in late 2024. Its members are said to range from teenagers as young as 15 to individuals with alleged ties to the police – though these claims remain unverified. The group reportedly congregates in Bratislava’s historic Old Town and has been seen openly performing Nazi salutes in public spaces.
In Insights Introduction The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) tools represents a great resource to support prevent/counter-violent extremism (P/CVE) practitioners in their effort to reduce online extremism. However, AI is also exploited by extremists themselves, whereby they weaponize tools to avoid and evade content moderation for malign purposes. This Insight will present the main challenges posed by alt-right engagement with AI that hinder effective content removal. This includes extremists’ circumvention techniques and the exploitation of generative AI for propaganda purposes. Specifically, this Insight will assess the effectiveness of current AI programs used by platforms such as Meta and OpenAI. Finally, this Insight will provide potential solutions to contain the issue and slow the pace at which extremist propaganda is spread by enhancing the performance of AI tools in several areas to better serve P/CVE. Different platforms have different approaches to moderation, using both manual and automatic detection to create safer online environments. (…) Extremists’ exploitation of AI includes the identification of loopholes like the one presented above, although generative AI has also proved to be easily manipulated for harmful purposes. An example of active generative AI weaponisation, for example, is exploiting bots like ChatGPT to receive information on the broadest array of illegal activities. Examples include instructions on how to make a bomb and tips for money laundering. Open AI’s guidelines (the company that developed ChatGPT) clearly state that their service cannot be used to harm oneself or others and the algorithm is trained in order not to provide illegal or dangerous information. Indeed, if a user attempts to obtain prohibited or harmful content, a message automatically pops up stating that the AI cannot fulfil the request. However, there is an easy loophole to bypass this barrier. It is sufficient to include in the instructions a caveat: that the information required is for fictional purposes only. For instance, you need the response to write a novel or a screenplay, and this is enough to bypass content moderation.
Beim Gedenken an die NS-Opfer in Strausberg soll ein AfD-Mann zunächst gestört haben. Dann soll ein Parteikollege gar mit einem Messer gedroht haben. skalation auf einer Gedenkveranstaltung an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus im Brandenburgischen Strausberg: Am Montagabend störte laut Angaben von Teilnehmenden ein AfD-Lokalabgeordneter zunächst eine Gedenkrede. Ein weiterer AfD-Stadtverordneter soll im Anschluss ein Messer gezückt und damit Teilnehmende bedroht haben. Die Polizei ermittelt. Wie in den vergangenen Jahren hatten die Stadt Strausberg und die „Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschist:innen“ (VVN-BdA) Märkisch-Oderland zu dem Gedenken an die NS-Opfer geladen. Dieses fand an einem Gedenkstein hinter einem lokalen Seniorenzentrum statt. Schon während der Rede eines Vertreters der VVN-BdA, in der dieser auch das AfD-Programm kritisierte, soll dabei ein AfD-Lokalpolitiker, Horst Baldszus, mit Zwischenrufen gestört und die Rede unterbrochen haben. Nach der Veranstaltung seien dann drei AfD-Anhänger vor Ort geblieben, berichtete VVN-BdA-Sprecher Samuel Signer der taz. Ein Mann sei dabei verbal aggressiv auf Teilnehmende zugegangen. Dann sei ein zweiter, junger Mann dazugekommen, der AfD-Stadtverordnete Nikolai S., der das Gespräch weiter eskaliert und Personen geschubst habe. Als S. zurückgewiesen wurde, habe dieser plötzlich ein Messer mit etwa 9 Zentimeter langer Klinge gezogen und damit herumgefuchtelt, berichtete eine der bedrohten Personen der taz. Eine Frau aus der AfD-Gruppe sei dann dazwischengegangen und habe S. zurechtgewiesen.
siehe auch: Gewählter AfD-Verordneter zückt Messer bei Gedenkveranstaltung zum Tag der Befreiung von Auschwitz. Am 27. Januar 2025 bedrohte der AfD-Stadtverordnete Nikolai Schirocki Teilnehmende der Gedenkveranstaltung zum Tag der Befreiung von Auschwitz mit einem Messer. Nach dem Ende der Veranstaltung räumten Teilnehmende Stühle und Veranstaltungstechnik zusammen. Während die meisten Teilnehmenden nun den Ort verließen, blieben drei Vertreter:innen der AfD-Fraktion und eine weitere Person vor Ort. In dieser Situation ging ein AfD-Stadtverordneter auf einen jungen Antifaschisten zu und bedrohte ihn. Als dieser nicht auf die Provokationen einging, zog der AfD-Stadtverordnete ein Klappmesser. Die bedrohten Antifaschist:innen flüchteten in das angrenzende Seniorenheim. Währenddessen griff eine AfD-Stadtverordnete beschwichtigend ein und drängte den Angreifer ab.
