In July 2000, the right-wing populist party Rechtsstaatliche Offensive (PRO) was founded in Hamburg. Often called the Schill Party after its chairman Ronald Schill, it focused on the issue of internal security in the 2001 Hamburg parliamentary election campaign. With the claim that Hamburg was the most dangerous city in Germany and the populist promise that crime would be halved within 100 days, it achieved 19.4 percent of the votes in its first election. In a coalition with the CDU and FDP, the Schill Party became the first right-wing populist party in the Federal Republic of Germany to govern a state.

Schill had already become known in the 1990s as “Judge Merciless” for his harsh sentences. Dirk Nockemann, Schill’s deputy party chair and office manager, later became chairman of the AfD chairman. Schill also did not shy from contact with the extreme right: the chair of the Eimsbüttel chapter of the PRO Christian Brandes was a member of the Germania fraternity, and one of Schill's bodyguards was the well-known neo-Nazi Thomas G., who had, in the past, been involved with the ANS and FAP.

As Second Mayor and Minister of Home Affairs, Schill presented himself as a security hardliner and, under the guise of fighting crime, pursued an authoritarian policy directed against left-wingers, drug users, and migrants, among others. Schill abolished the independent police commission that had been formed as a consequence of the Hamburg police scandal. As Minister of Home Affairs, he increased police raids in the fight against the open drug scene at the main train station, and continued the practice of administering emetics to suspected drug dealers, even when the Nigerian Michael Paul Nwabuisi, known as Achidi John, died during this process. As a measure to curb juvenile criminality, Schill proposed the creation of a closed juvenile facility. The facility, located on Feuerbergstraße, was closed in 2008 after reports of egregious mistreatment of the young people held there.

In accordance with Schill's demand to carry out at least 500 deportations per month, the immigration authorities broadened their deportation practices. Children were separated from their parents and were deported to children's homes in the destination country. The parliament’s Office for Foreigners’ Issues was abolished. Schill also positioned himself against alternative forms of housing, and set himself the goal of clearing Hamburg's caravan sites.

A broad social protest formed against the parliament’s domestic policy. People from the arts, culture, church, sports, and social movements organized a variety of protest actions. Triggered by the evacuation of the Bambule caravan site, thousands demonstrated for weeks against right-wing populism, exclusion, and deportation. Bela B. and the band Fettes Brot rapped against the “hardcore senator” in the song “Tanzverbot”: “Someone does what he wants, his name is Schill, we want him to lose his job”.

In 2003, Schill was dismissed as Minister of Home Affairs after making homophobic remarks about the First Mayor. The coalition with the PRO was dissolved prematurely in early 2004. Schill then left Germany and moved to Brazil, where he drew attention to himself through drug scandals and participation in reality shows such as Big Brother.