The racially motivated attack on eight Indians in the eastern town of Mügeln continues to resonate in Germany and the leader of the co-ruling Social Democrats (SPD), Kurt Beck, spoke out in favor of a starting the process that would ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). But other political leaders and the interior ministry have voiced skepticism.

The NPD is an anti-immigrant party that has close links to neo-Nazis and is represented in the parliaments of two states in the former communist East Germany. Eastern Germany has seen disproportionate rates of violence against foreigners since German reunification in 1990, although incidents have also occurred in western Germany.

One of the states is Saxony, where the Indians were attacked and chased through the town of Mügeln by a mob of about 50 Germans, following a local festival on August 18. A crowd of onlookers did not intervene and it took about 70 police to gain control of the situation.

In another incident last weekend in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, two African men were attacked by a group of right-wing extremists, German media reported on Friday. Both men were injured, one seriously. Police had kept the news from the media due to their investigation, officials said.

Although the NPD was not specifically blamed for the attacks, the party and other extreme-right groups are known to be active in the state and other parts of eastern Germany.

Racist party

The NPD has been branded as an ideological breeding ground for neo-Nazi aggression, and Germany's domestic security agency says it foments racist violence. It is also considered anti-Semitic.

An attempt by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government to ban the NPD faltered in 2003 after the Federal Constitutional Court refused to hear the case because the government had infiltrated the party with informants in high places.

The interior ministry said Friday that although the party met all the requirements to be outlawed, the intelligence service would have to drop surveillance of it if a new attempt were to be made to ban it. The ministry did not want to see this happen, a spokesman said.

Hans-Peter Uhl, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel's sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), said he would be happy to see the party banned. "But I fear that such an attempt would fail and that would be a disaster," he said.

Green Party parliamentarian Hans-Christian Ströbele said the previous failed attempt to ban the NPD ended in a propaganda victory for the party, and he feared the same could happen if a new attempt were made.

Government inactivity?

Some critics have blamed inactivity by the major political parties for the spread of right-wing activity in the eastern states, where unemployment and dissatisfaction are much higher than in the west.

The latest violence has prodded the government into action. Family Affairs Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced increased assistance to projects aimed at combating right-wing extremism.

"We don't want to leave the field open to right-wing extremists," she said Friday after a two-day cabinet conclave in the village of Meseberg, 70 kilometers north of Berlin.

But the government, and particularly her ministry which is responsible for programs to curb extremism, have come under criticism in the press for allegedly not doing enough.

In an editorial in the daily Financial Times Deutschland, the author wrote: "Let me tell you one thing, my dear politicians: When some areas of Germany are no longer safe for foreigners, and when you no longer see the state's duty to protect people from other people as part of your jobs, then I won't accept that. Do you understand? You are responsible for security in this country."

During campaigning before their election to the state parliament in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania last September, NPD activists set up youth clubs in neglected rural areas and distributed 15,000 CDs with songs by right-wing rock bands in a bid to woo younger voters.

Charges filed

On Friday, Police in the eastern city of Jena said they had filed charges against Udo Voigt, the NPD's national leader, for inciting racial hatred. In a speech last weekend, he had proposed the late Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's former deputy, be awarded the Nobel peace prize.

If convicted, Voigt could face up to three years in jail or a fine, police said.

Founded in 1964, the NPD had its heyday in the late 60s when it was represented in seven state parliaments and narrowly missed clearing the five-percent threshold for representation in the Bundestag, the national parliament.

On a national level, the NPD plays an insignificant role. It won only 1.6 per cent of the vote in the last general election in 2005. Its current membership is put at around 6,000.