Far-right biggest threat to our democracy, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser says

Neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists committed 21,964 crimes in Germany last year, the government said on Tuesday.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser presented the government’s report on politically motivated crimes at a news conference in Berlin.

“Far-right is the biggest threat to our democracy and the biggest extremist threat to people in our country,” she said, stressing that the latest figures show the growing violence by right-wing extremists.

According to the report, neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists carried out 1,042 violent attacks last year targeting migrants, refugees or political opponents. At least 590 people were injured in those attacks.

As much as “41 percent of all victims of politically motivated violence were attacked by right-wing extremists,” Minister Faeser said.

German police recorded 4,735 xenophobic incidents, 3,027 anti-Semitic, and 732 Islamophobic hate crimes in 2021, the report said.

“I have grave concerns about the massive increase in the number of anti-Semitic crimes … it’s a shame for our country,” Faeser said./aa