Germany: The German Bundestag has voted to tighten demonstration regulations, thus preventing neo-Nazi marches around memorials connected to the Holocaust and the second World War.
Politicians hope the law will prevent pictures of neo-Nazis marching past the new Holocaust Memorial going around the world on May 8th, the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.
"With these legal amendments, NPD demonstrations aimed at particular sites can be better prohibited," said Volker Beck, the parliamentary leader of the Green Party.
The law, if passed by the upper house, the Bundesrat, bans all extremist marches near memorials to victims of the Nazi dictatorship. The government failed in its proposal to extend a demonstration exclusion zone around the Reichstag to the adjacent Brandenburg Gate.
"The Brandenburg Gate is not a memorial for the victims of National Socialism [ and] is for that reason not affected by the law, but other rules will eventually apply there," said Erhart Körting, the interior minister of the Berlin state government.
The proposals attempt to strike a balance between two legacies of the Nazi dictatorship: Germany's extremely liberal demonstration laws and its zero tolerance of any public displays connected with the Third Reich.
In the future, anyone who openly endorses or glorifies the Nazi dictatorship faces up to three years in prison or a fine.
The new proposals will allow Germany's federal states to compile their own list of sites where neo-Nazi demonstrations can be banned. Likely candidates are the concentration camps in Germany such as Dachau and Sachsenhausen.
The hastily written law will be rushed through the Bundesrat next week so that it can come into effect by May 8th.
The NPD has registered a demonstration in central Berlin on that date, and the city government is hoping to avoid a repeat of last month's 60th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden. More than 7,000 neo-Nazis marched through the city to the sound of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, carrying flags and torches.
Despite the potential PR disaster of neo-Nazi marches, the new demonstration restrictions have met with strong opposition in Germany. Many see it as a curb on freedom of expression, even if that expression is of extreme-right views.