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Germany sees rise in anti-Semitic, political crimes

  • May 27, 2020

Germany saw a rise both far-right and far-left crimes in 2019, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday.

The country’s police recorded just over 41,000 cases of politically motivated crime last year, representing a rise of 14.2% compared to 2018, when there were just over 36,000. More than half of all cases could be attributed to the far-right scene, the statistics show. The 22,342 cases represented a 9.4% rise. The politically motivated crimes recorded ranged from verbal abuse to assault, arson, and murder.

At the press conference, Seehofer was at pains to allay concerns that police or authorities were losing sight of far-right violence.

“The biggest threat comes from the far-right, we have to see that clearly,” Seehofer said.

Read more: Germany and right-wing extremism: The new dimension of terrorism

Authorities also recorded 2,032 crimes motivated by anti-Semitism – a rise of 13% over 2018, and the highest since those statistics were collected. Some 93.4% of those crimes were carried out by far-right perpetrators. Seehofer said there was a similar figure – 90.1% – for Islamophobic crimes.

Next week marks the first anniversary of the murder of conservative politician Walter Lübcke, head of government in Kassel, central Germany. Far-right extremist Stephan E. initially confessed to the murder, though he withdrew the confession earlier this year and replaced it with a partial confession implicating an accomplice.

The figures show that 36.8% of far-right crimes involve “propaganda offences,” 13.7% involve “racist hate speech,” 4.9% property damage, and 4.4% violence against people.

Georg Maier, interior minister of Thuringia, who joined the press conference as the current chairman of the state interior ministers’ conference, was particularly forthright on the far-right threat.

“What we experienced in 2019 and 2020 represents a new dimension of threat against our democracy,” Maier said. “This danger is coming from the right. Three murders in 2019, and in 2020 already 10 murders with a racist and far-right extremist background. It had been a long time since we had the murder a political representative of Germany, and that makes very clear how big the challenge for us is.”

Last week, Seehofer attended the first meeting of a newly established Cabinet committee, chaired by Chancellor Angela Merkel, to fight right-wing extremism and racism. “It was a very, very good and deep discussion,” Seehofer said. A cabinet report is planned for next spring.

There was a drop of more than 27% in crimes related to religious extremism, which Die Welt newspaper suggested was related to the fall of the “Islamic State” caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Several Islamist organizations have been banned in Germany in the last few years.

Read more: Germany: Anti-Semitism despite remembrance culture

Police crack down on far-right group

The data was released as police in Germany on Wednesday raided 25 premises linked to 31 suspected members of anti-government Reich Citizens Movement — a movement that overlaps with far-right extremist groups. The group was suspected of manufacturing fake documents, including passports, driver’s licenses and birth certificates. The raids took place in the states of Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.

A faction of the group was officially banned by Seehofer in March for its anti-Semitic and right-wing sympathies.

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sees-rise-in-anti-semitic-political-crimes/a-53583839?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom

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