Last year, German police recorded more than 55,000 cases of politically motivated crime, an increase of more than 23 percent over the previous year, a record since 2001 when these statistics were kept.
This was expressed at a press conference Tuesday by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who mainly expressed her concern about the rise in cases of politically motivated violence, anti-Semitism and hatred on the Internet.
The biggest violence was related to covid
Speaking at the presentation of the annual report on the scope of politically motivated crimes, Faeser said, “In 2021, there were 55,048 political crimes in Germany, which is the absolute peak of statistics so far.” said. It has become clear that we must protect our democracy with all our might, especially at a time when the peaceful order of Europe is in danger.”
“Compared to 2020, the number of politically motivated crimes increased by more than 23 percent last year, and growth doubled compared to the last decade,” said Holger Münch, head of the Federal Crime Agency (BKA). said.
Faeser said the sharp rise was related to the covid-19 outbreak, among other things. “We recorded many cases of protests against quarantine restrictions in 2021,” Faeser said. Said.
According to the minister, even the most severe cases of violence were related to the pandemic. He spoke openly of last year’s case in the West German town of Idar-Oberstein, in which a man who refused to wear a veil shot a gas station worker. The man who was fired after the cashier did not want to sell him a beer as the buyer did not have a closed airline.
“I’m also very worried about the rapid increase in cases of anti-Semitism, their number has increased by 29 percent. It’s a disgrace for our country,” said Faeser. In 84 percent of anti-Semitism cases, the BKA assigned it to the far right. The number of anti-Jewish attacks by Islamic radicals is also increasing. “We’re seeing an increasingly vocal and harsher anti-Semitic stance from Islamists who preach hatred against Jews and Israel,” he said.
The threat comes from the right, but also from the left.
He also described the growing number of hate crimes as a problem, accounting for more than one-fifth of politically motivated crime cases. According to him, hate spreads fast on the internet. “We must do everything we can to stop the spiral of hate on the internet,” he said.
Horst Seehofer, like his predecessor at the ministry, sees far-right extremism as the biggest threat to German democracy, although crimes from right-wing extremists fell 9.6 percent annually to 20,201 cases. But far-right violence remains a problem.
“41 percent of all victims of politically motivated violence were attacked by right-wing extremists in 2021. This means that right-wing extremism is the greatest threat to our democracy and the greatest danger to the people of our country,” he added.
“Even with ultra-leftism, there is no reason to lose focus. We must continue to take decisive action against violence motivated by far-left ideology,” he said.
He stressed that special attention will be paid to the June G7 summit at the Elmau Castle in Bavaria. The peaks of the world’s most advanced economies have traditionally been the target of left-wing protesters. According to the BKA, there were 6,242 leftist protests in Germany last year, down 7.4 percent year on year.
The number of election-related political crimes has increased sharply by several hundred percent over the past year. Forensic scientists justify this by saying that 2021 is a “super election”. In addition to municipal and state elections, parliamentary elections have traditionally been held in Germany, which has led to more crime. With last year’s elections, the BKA linked 10,487 crimes.
The RDA defines a politically motivated crime if the circumstances of a crime or the perpetrator’s position are influenced by political aims, are contrary to the free democratic order, threaten the security of the country and constitutional organs, or are prejudiced against nationality, ethnicity, color, religion. or political beliefs, gender and social status.
Source: Seznam Zpravy
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