Parallel to the increasing number of refugees, the number of attacks on refugee accommodation increased again last year for the first time since 2015. In 2022, there were 121 robberies, attacks, property damage and physical attacks on such shelters, up 73 percent from the previous year. This is the result of preliminary figures from the Federal Ministry of the Interior in response to a request from the left-wing faction, which the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” has received. In 2015, the authorities had registered 1,047 such attacks.
Authorities also recorded 1,248 attacks against asylum seekers or refugees outside of shelters in 2022. That was about as many as in the previous year with 1259 cases. The figures are also available from the German Press Agency. In the past year, the total number of refugees has increased significantly, mainly as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
The left-wing faction’s refugee policy expert, Clara Bünger, was alarmed by the current figures. “Refugees who are looking for safety and protection here are frightened,” she told the newspaper. She recalled the violent riots against a refugee hostel and against the central reception center for asylum seekers in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992, which had caused a lot of horror, and said: “Do we want to wait until Rostock-Lichtenhagen repeats itself?”
