Neo-Nazis go thirsty as German police seize beer from far-right festival

Neo-Nazis attending a far-right music festival in eastern Germany were made to go thirsty after police seized thousands of litres of beer to stop any threat of violence breaking out.

Officers teamed up with locals in the town of Ostritz to deprive the revellers of alcohol ahead of the Shield and Sword event over the weekend, after 200 crates of lager had been snapped up from local supermarkets.

Police squads from different parts of Germany were deployed to the area to help cope with any trouble, taking the total number of law enforcement personnel present up to around 1,400.

DW News reported that some 600 right-wing activists attended, but the numbers had dropped to below 500 by the end of the second day as officers worked to seize more than 4,200 litres of beer, while some 300 protesters marched peacefully nearby in opposition to the concert.

Police tweeted several pictures of their three-day operation, and no major incidents were reported.

The ban on alcohol at the festival was enforced following a ruling by a court in the city of Dresden, some 70 miles away, which said the event had an "aggressive character".

Ostritz, located near the border with Poland, regularly hosts far-right concerts and has previously hosted hundreds of neo-Nazis for a festival timed to coincide with the birthday of Adolf Hitler.

Back in December, police shut down another such rock concert after the crowd started chanting the Nazi slogan "sieg heil", which means "hail victory".

The phrase is illegal in Germany, as well as in Poland, Slovakia and Austria.

Under German law, anybody using any form of Nazi slogan, in written form, vocally or physically saluting, can be imprisoned for up to three years.