Police in Germany have arrested two Chinese tourists for making illegal “Heil Hitler” salutes in front of the historic Reichstag building that houses the German parliament.
Police in Germany have arrested two Chinese tourists for making illegal “Heil Hitler” salutes in front of the historic Reichstag building that houses the German parliament.
Photo:Sina
Berlin police officers said they detained two men, aged 36 and 49, after they were seen striking the Nazi-era pose and photographing each other with their mobile phones.
Photo:HK01
The pair were questioned at a local police station and released after paying €500 bail each.
Using the symbols of anti-constitutional organisations, a charge frequently levelled against members of far-right groups, can carry a sentence of up to three years in jail sentence or a fine.
The spokeswoman said the men could leave the country during the investigation and that if a fine is handed down, the bail money they had already paid would likely cover it.
The Chinese tourists were arrested after pulling the straight-arm Nazi salute, seen here done by Adolf Hitler (right) Photo:Getty image
The Chinese tourists were arrested after pulling the straight-arm Nazi salute, seen here done by Adolf Hitler (right) Photo:Getty imageGermany has strict laws on hate speech and symbols linked to Hitler and the Nazis, who ruled between 1933 and 1945.
The Reichstag is a powerful symbol in Germany. It was destroyed by fire in 1933 by an arsonist thought to have been paid by the Nazis, who then blamed the blaze on the Communists and used it as an excuse to severely restrict civil liberties.
News of the arrests soon began to circulate through China’s online community, where a large majority of people said the men deserved their punishments.The Reichstag.
Photo: EPA
The Reichstag housed the assemblies of the German Empire, the inter-war Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany until it was destroyed by a suspicious fire in 1933.
In the wake of the blaze, Adolf Hitler consolidated his power over Germany, eventually unleashing World War Two, which claimed an estimated 20 million lives in Europe, and the Holocaust, in which millions of victims including six million Jews were systematically slaughtered.
Refurbished after Germany’s 1990 reunification by British architect Norman Foster, who added an iconic glass dome to symbolise open democracy, it has since 1999 housed the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.
