1,600 cops keep the peace between 700 Nazis and several hundred protesters in Berlin

German Youth give the finger to 700 Neo-Nazis

About 1,600 German cops, mostly in riot gear and helmets, were deployed in a Berlin suburb today to keep 700 Neo-Nazis and a few hundred protesters separated (roughly a 1:1 cops to citizens ratio). The police arrested more than 40 demonstrators trying to block the Nazi march Saturday.

The protesters chanted "Nazis out" and "Get Lost", and then tried to confront the 700 neo-Nazis, who carried black and red banners with the slogans "Young people need a future".

The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) is described by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as racist, anti-Semitic and revisionist (namely that they deny the holocaust).

Television pictures showed cops using water cannons to disperse the left-wingers who held banners saying "Berlin against Nazis". Wrecked cars could be seen in the streets of Berlin's Lichtenberg suburb, where the march and protest took place.

Dustups between the left and right are frequent in Germany, however, neo-Nazi demonstrations are often banned to avoid the violence.

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Adolph Hitler's return to Berlin

Madame Tussand's withered, hunched over, half-mad rendition of Hitler is now on display

The Times of London reported today that a wax figure of Adolph Hitler has now arrived in Berlin. Interestingly, one of the last things Hitler said before he killed himself in April 1945 was that "he was determined not to fall into the hands of the Russians — and land up as the freak exhibit in a Moscow waxworks."

According to The Times "As luck would have it, Hitler — or, at least, a waxen effigy — has now been put on display in Berlin, a short stroll away from his former bunker.

"Thanks to Madame Tussauds, which has just opened a new affiliate in Berlin, Germans can at last view a realistic model of the Führer. The suspicion, though, is that he will bring nothing but trouble.

"To ensure that the wax Führer does not inspire neo-Nazi pilgrimages, Madame Tussauds has cordoned off the dummy and imposed a no-touch rule. You can kiss Robbie Williams or even Angela Merkel, but not Hitler; nor can you pose for a picture with him. There are CCTV cameras and the London-based company has also taken the precaution of moulding a very shrivelled Führer. Unlike the Hitler model in London, he is shown as a distinctly unvigorous character. It was created using 2,000 photographs of The Fuhrer for models."

I have drawn and painted a few Adlophs over the years. Here are two. One is a digital paintng, and one is a crude approximation I created in my police sketch software, Faces 3.0:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge
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