NPD hate-mail

According to a report in the newspaper Tagesspiegel, police confiscated three computers and three USB sticks during the raid in Berlin, and also found the original of the offensive letter sent to around 30 parliamentary candidates and local officials. Haehnel was present during the raid, but made no comments, though he has admitted responsibility for writing the letter.

The letter, which demanded that people of immigrant families "go home," set out a five-point plan by which immigrant families be removed from Germany in stages. It caused outrage throughout the country.

New call for ban

The latest incident in the NPD's aggressive, attention-grabbing election campaign has led Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), to renew calls for a ban on the far-right party. "This shows once again that this party, which is unfortunately not banned, is daring to do things that endanger our democracy. A ban on the NPD is now more topical than ever," he told the Tagesspiegel.

Wowereit called on the Christian Democrat Union, the SPD's coalition partners in the federal government, to re-think its policy on the NPD and "join the SPD in applying for a ban". The political will to impose a ban on the NPD has consistently wilted following concerns that it would make far-right organizations more difficult to control.

If Haehnel, a 34-year-old song-writer, is convicted for incitement, he could face heavy punishments, as he was convicted of two similar charges in 2007 and 2008, when he said he approved of the murder of communist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in 1919, and made other anti-immigration comments.

bk/dpa/afpd
Editor: Michael Lawton