German police confiscate 4,200 litres of alcohol from far-right festival as residents buy all beer in town

Residents of Ostritz protest by stopping atendees from being able to drink alcohol with sales banned inside music event

Police securing alcohol confiscated from attendees to a far-right music festival (Saxony Police/Twitter)

German police have seized more than 4,000 litres of beer from attendees of a far-right music festival as local residents brought all the beer in the one local supermarket to ensure the event stayed “dry”.

A Saxony court ruled that the risk of violence at the Schild und Schwert or Shield and Sword Festival – displaying the initials SS is illegal in the country – meant they had to impose an alcohol ban. The Dresden court said the event had an “aggressive character”.

More than 1,000 law enforcement at the event in the town of Ostritz, on the Germany-Poland border, with riot police and other personnel drafted in from around the local area. About 750 people registered to participate in the event.

The court also barred a counter demonstration organised by the Rechts rockt nicht, or Right does not rock group.

As well as police confiscating 4,200 litres of beer, local residents wanted to make sure they could do something to protest the festival – co-ordinating to buy more than 200 crates of beer from the local supermarket.

“It was planned a week in advance. We wanted to dry the Nazis out,” Georg Salditt, one of the residents behind the scheme, told Bild newspaper. No alcohol sales were allowed within the event, so attendees had headed into town to try and find something to drink.

Residents claimed that festival attendees swore at those buying-up the alcohol as soon as they realised what they were up to.

“My impression is that the civil society protests are having an effect, the neo-Nazis see that they’re not welcome in Ostritz,” Michael Schlitt, another of the protest organisers told the DPA news agency.

Michael Kretschmer, the regional prime minister of Saxony, told DPA that his state would do anything in its power to combat the threat of far-right extremism.

“I am very impressed with the way that in such a small town the people stand up and make it clear that the far-Right is not wanted here,” he said.