The Law and Order Offensive Party (German: Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive), short form Offensive D (the "D" means "Deutschland"/"Germany") was a minor political party in Germany. It was founded in July 2000 by Hamburg judge Ronald Schill. It wished to call itself PRO but was forbidden from doing so after a judicial complaint by the Pro Deutsche Mitte party. Because of this the official short form was "Schill" and the party called itself Schill-Partei (Schill Party) 2000-2003, after its founder. The policies of the party were right populist.
In the 2001 elections to the Hamburg state parliament it came third and received 19.4% of votes/25 members. It went into coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) which broke down in August 2003 after CDU mayor Ole von Beust accused Schill of extortion.
In December 2003 the party decided to expel Schill. In the 2004 Hamburg elections the party under the new leader Mario Mettbach only reached 0.4% and did not qualify for seats. After the election Mettbach and most of the other members left the party, some of them joining the CDU. The members who hadn't left elected a new leader and changed their name to Offensive D. Under that name, they came in last at the 2005 German federal election, polling 3,338 out of over 47 million votes.
The party dissolved due to poor election results and financial problems in September 2007, having lost several leading figures and entire state groups to other right-wing parties such as the Centre Party.
Famous quotes containing the words law, order, offensive and/or party:
“America has always been a country of amateurs where the professional, that is to say, the man who claims authority as a member of an élite which knows the law in some field or other, is an object of distrust and resentment.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“... the sentimentalist ... exclaims: “Would you have a woman step down from her pedestal in order to enter practical life?” Yes! A thousand times, yes! If we can really find, after a careful search, any women mounted upon pedestals, we should willingly ask them to step down in order that they may meet and help to uplift their sisters. Freedom and justice for all are infinitely more to be desired than pedestals for a few.”
—Bertha Honore Potter Palmer (1849–1918)
“How much atonement is enough? The bombing must be allowed as at least part-payment: those of our young people who are concerned about the moral problem posed by the Allied air offensive should at least consider the moral problem that would have been posed if the German civilian population had not suffered at all.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)
“I never knew anyone yet who got up at six who did anything more useful between that time and breakfast than banging a tennis ball up against the side of the house, waiting for the more civilized members of the party to get up.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)