The number of violent attacks with a racist subtext has increased in Germany. From January until mid-September, police recorded 507 such assaults, almost double the number for the same period last year, according to the magazine Spiegel.
The overall number of politically-motivated crimes targeting asylum-seekers and refugees is also high. Responding to a question in Parliament from MPs for the Green Party, the German Interior Ministry reported that this year there have already been more than 1 800 such crimes.
Police have also recorded 78 arson attacks committed by right-wing extremists. The Interior Ministry reports that against the background of the debate over refugee reception, the “rhetoric of resistance” has been rising.
The civilian counter-intelligence agency reported on growing activity by right-wing extremists this summer in its annual report for 2015. The number of right-wing extremists, according to the agency, has risen from 21 000 last year to 22 600 this year.
Half of these extremists, according to the German authorities, are prepared to use violence, wich represents a growth of 1 300 such persons compared to 2014. One cause, according to the civilian counter-intelligence service, is resistance to the reception of refugees, around 1.1 million of whom arrived in Germany last year.
