Germany said Monday that it would not seek an EU-wide ban on the display of Nazi insignia such as swastikas.

Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency, "will not seek to prohibit the use of specific symbols such as swastikas," said the German justice ministry said in statement.

Earlier this month, Germany called on fellow EU members to outlaw the swastika, a move sparked outrage among Hindu groups who said the swastika had been part of their religious symbols for nearly 5,000 years before the Nazis appropriated it.

Germany has been during its EU presidency trying to push through a new legislation that will make denying the Holocaust a crime in the European Union as part of its efforts to stem a rising tide of right-wing violence in Europe.

"The denial or gross minimization of genocide out of racist and xenophobic motives" will be banned, the statement said.

In Germany, Holocaust denial was outlawed as early as in 1985 and the use of Nazi insignia is since forbidden.

Source: Xinhua