Far-right wind power protesters occupy Germanic war monument

Members of a far-right anti-immigration movement in Germany occupied a well-known Germanic war monument on Sunday, setting off fireworks and hanging up banners in protest against the expansion of wind power, according to police.

The far-right, ethnonationalist Identitarian Movement, which sees white European identity as under threat from immigration, staged the action at the Hermann Memorial near the western German city of Detmold.

It commemorates Germanic war leader Arminius, who led an alliance of Germanic tribes to victory over the Romans in the battle of the Teutoburg Forest in the year 9 CE.

One of the men climbed further up the monument from a balcony, remained there for several hours and secured himself with a rope, police said. The man was uncooperative with police, while the rest of the group fled the scene, according to a statement.

When the 21-year-old Swiss national finally climbed back down after several hours, he was taken to a police station. Police said they were still assessing which offences the man could face, including trespassing, suspected incitement to hatred and setting off illegal pyrotechnics.

In Germany, the movement is monitored by the domestic intelligence agency as a confirmed far-right extremist organization.