German police raid Pirate Party offices

Authorities in Germany have seized the servers of the country's Pirate Party, as part of an ongoing investigation into an attack in France.

The German Pirate Party directors said in a statement that police entered the Offenbach offices of the party's hosting provider on Friday morning and seized a number of servers.

According to the party, the investigation is being targeted at the host rather than the Pirate Party or its members. The directors were quick to criticise the takedown, noting that the raid came ahead of a key election period.

"The disconnection of all servers is a massive intrusion into the communications infrastructure of the sixth largest party in Germany," the Pirate Party said.

"Considering the state elections taking place in Bremen in two days, this caused severe political damage which the board condemns decisively."

The Pirate Party has emerged in recent years as an advocate for the rights of internet users. Spawned out of support for file-sharing site Pirate Bay, the party has evolved into a political group focused on file-sharing intellectual property issues.

The party has seen mixed results in its political efforts since its establishment. The group made headlines in 2009 when it clinched 7.1 per cent of the vote in Sweden to win a seat in the European Parliament.

Later, the party was able to establish an ISP in Sweden which served as a safe haven for the controversial WikiLeaks information-sharing site.

Efforts to establish the party in the UK, however, have met with significantly less success. The party pulled in fewer than 1,400 votes in the 2010 election.