The Australian: Neo-Nazis hit graves

NEO-NAZIS have desecrated 50 Jewish gravestones in the city of Bochum, the latest in a series of attacks that suggest a revival of far-right activity in Germany. Right-wing extremists have also been infiltrating the protest movement against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who was pelted with eggs and stones in the east German town of Wittenberge yesterday, and are exploiting the growing discontent of the less prosperous east. The cemetery attack coincided with clashes and acts of anti-Semitic vandalism across Germany to mark the anniversary of the death of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, who killed himself in prison in August 1987. Many of the Bochum graves had been plastered with the date of Hess's death and the lightning-like runes of the SS.