German right-wingers

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BERLIN, April 30 (UPI) -- German officials said they will try to stop right-wing extremists from committing "spiritual arson" by posting caricatures of Mohammed outside mosques.

Police say the North Rhine-Westphalia party, already having displayed anti-Muslim caricatures in Essen and Gelsenkirchen, is threatening to campaign for the May 13 federal elections by posting about 100 anti-Islamic sketches outside mosques, the local.de reported. Police say they have banned the party from redistributing Danish caricatures drawn by Kurt Westergaard and used in 2005 by the party.

One cartoon, showed Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban, prompted strong reaction worldwide.

Pro NRW said it will send party activists to 25 mosques in Wuppertal, Dusseldorf, Aachen, Solingen, Cologne and Bonn.

Interior Minister in state Ralf Jager condemned the party's actions.

"Pro NRW is committing spiritual arson," Jager said. "The party is consciously taking into account that Muslims will feel provoked and upset. The authorities will exhaust all legal avenues to prevent a xenophobic hate campaign."

Pro NRW campaign manager Lars Seidensticker said any violence resulting from posting the images would not his party's fault, the local.de reported.

"If the situation is so tense that you can't do a campaign like this against Islamist influences any more, then the politicians are responsible for doing away with Germany," Seidensticker said. "Mosques are potential centers of a new civil war that we have to prevent. That's why we have to pull out the Islamist evil by its roots."