Australia to ban public display of Nazi symbols

A swastika flag is displayed for sale at a store at the Gladstone Harbour Festival in central Queensland, Australia, April 11, 2006. [AP Photo]

New legislation is set to be introduced next week in the Australian parliament that will ban the public display of Nazi symbols. Under the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill, offenders could face up to a year in prison.

Among other things, the proposed bill will ban flags, T-shirts, armbands and other symbols related to the Nazis, an extremist German 20th century political party led by Adolf Hitler, and the Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was a major paramilitary organization. The symbols' publication online will also be proscribed. The maximum penalty for breaching the ban would be 12 months' imprisonment.