The politically motivated crime in Germany is increasing significantly. According to the assessment of domestic politicians and experts, the strong polarisation of the past few years is reflected here. By means of the Corona pandemic has exacerbated this trend once again. “It is frightening, such as the Corona-crisis is leading to new forms of hatred and incitement”, says Federal Minister of justice, Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
the Chairman of The conference of interior Ministers, Thuringia’s Minister of the interior, Georg Maier (SPD), stated on Wednesday in Berlin at the presentation of the police statistics on politically motivated crime in a “heated political climate, leading to crimes”, as well as increased confrontations between Right and Left. This was a “new development that fills me personally with great concern”.
The number of offenses for which a political motive is suspected, has increased in 2019, according to police statistics, 14.2 percent to approximately 41 000 offences. More than half of these offenses (22 342) goes to the account of the offenders from the right of the spectrum. Here, the increase compared to the year-on-year at 9.4 percent.
rights offenders, according to statistics is also responsible for most cases of body injury. In the case of arsons majority have been calculated on the basis of suspects, from the left of the spectrum. The number of left-motivated crimes rose to 9849 offences. The rise of extreme right-wing offenses by almost 10 percent and the left extreme offences by almost 24 percent, was “an expression of strong political polarization in our country,” said the domestic policy spokesman of the Union group, Mathias Middelberg (CDU).
On the question of whether he sees a connection between the increasing number of right-wing criminal offences and the Act of the right national wing of the AfD, replied the German interior Minister, Horst Seehofer (CSU), the revaluation of this current through the protection of the Constitution was “a technical decision that was for our democracy to be effective”. The Federal office for the protection of the Constitution had identified the wing in March as “the right-wing extremist aspirations”. The biggest threat from the go from the right-wing extremism, – said Seehofer. “The seed, which is widely used since years especially by the AfD, is now full,” said the FDP-inner politician Benjamin Strasser.
Maier had already warned in advance against attempts by extremists, the society Hiking. Especially in the case of the demonstrations against the Anti-Corona measures attempted right-wing extremists “in the society to penetrate,” said Maier to the TV channel Phoenix.
With a view to the past year, he said that the democracy was under pressure, and recalled the bombings of Kassel and Halle. “What is taking place, is also an attack on our democracy and, of course, comes from the right, from right-wing extremists,” said Maier.
In the case of the anti-Semitic offences, the authorities have recorded in the past year, an increase of 13 percent to 2032 offences. Of these, 93 percent were, according to the findings of the police on the right motivated. The number of Islamophobic classified crimes rose in the same period, according to police statistics, up 4.4 per cent to 950 offences. Here, too, about nine out of ten perpetrators were from the right of the spectrum.
The statistics reveal, on the one hand, “that in Parts of the society, latent anti-Semitism, apparently, can only be pushed very troublesome back,” said the anti-Semitism commissioned by the Federal government, Felix Klein. On the other hand also the increased willingness and courage of those Concerned, to bring anti-Semitic crimes are consistently on the display will show the increase in Numbers but. In addition to government measures, a “vigilant and courageous civil society is” necessary, with citizens getting involved, if you are watching the wrong. A third of the number of attacks on public officials and elected members of Parliament rose in 2019. 1674 of such offences to the police in the past year.
Lower case numbers in the past year in the area of Islamist-motivated crimes. They went back to more than a quarter of 425 crimes. One reason for this could be the disillusionment that seized after the downfall of the so-called Caliphate of the terrorist militia Islamic state (IS) in Syria and Iraq in some of the Islamists themselves. In addition, had been banned in previous years, several extremist groups, such as 2017, the “German Islam Hildesheim”. In addition, there were – probably because there are fewer new asylum applications were made as in previous years, not so many notes on Asylum seekers with ties to a terrorist group abroad. Germany was from the point of view of these associations, however, continues to be unchanged with a target for possible attacks, said the Federal criminal police office.
the statistics on politically motivated crime, it is a so-called input statistics. That is, the offenses are already covered at the first suspicion.
dpa
