The neo-Nazi website "alpen donau" reappeared today (Weds) on the occasion of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's birthday. He was born on 20 April 1889.
The website featured a change, however, from the former alpen.donau.info to alpen.donau.net. The former site disappeared from the net at the end of March after US authorities had taken action against the US server responsible for it.
The new site was registered on 16 April at Wild West Domains in Arizona.
The new website criticised today the 11 April arrest of Austrian neo-Nazi Gottfried Küssel and claimed that "no one can stop us. We are ready to make a counter-blow."
Küssel has been accused of cooperating with people behind "Alpe-Donau." Austrian officials had been forced to watch as anonymous neo-Nazis posted hate messages against foreigners in German on the homepage. "Alpe-Donau" also made headlines for revealing the home addresses and private phone numbers of several journalists and left-wing politicians.
Küssel's arrest came around half a year after investigators had confiscated data storage devices and documents at dozens of apartments and offices in Vienna. Around a dozen of users of "Alpe-Donau" - which promoted events held by Küssel in cooperation with Czech neo-Nazis - have been identified in the meantime.
Officials said that, apart from Küssel, another suspect had been taken into custody. They added that various objects depicting Nazi era logos and slogans - which are banned under Austrian law - had been seized as six flats were searched on the evening of 11 April.
Investigators think that some of the suspects may also have links with the Freedom Party (FPÖ), the third-strongest political force in the federal parliament, according to reports. FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache has pointed out many times over the past months that he and his party wanted to disassociate themselves from the disputed online forum.
Strache was pressed to speak out on the issue after participators in discussions on the website praised his party for its current policies. The FPÖ has sparked outcry among most political competitors for campaigning against members of the Islamic community in Austria who are unwilling to integrate into society. Strache has warned of the creation of "parallel societies" in several speeches on the campaign trail in recent years. Surveys show that the right-wing party could come in first if there was a general election this month.
Organisers of "Alpe-Donau" and people engaging in discussions in the website's forum face several years in prison if prosecutors press charges under Austrian anti-Nazi propaganda law and regulations.
