extremism
Protection of the Constitution: High number of violent extremists
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser comes to the House of the Federal Press Conference, where she and the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Haldenwang present the 2022 report on the protection of the Constitution. photo
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
Violence among extremists in Germany is growing. The number of right-wing extremists alone has risen by 14.5 percent to 38,800, according to the new report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution perceives a strong tendency towards violence among extremists in Germany. This emerges from the current report for the protection of the constitution, which was presented in Berlin on Tuesday.
According to the report, which looks at developments in 2022, the number of people assigned to the right-wing extremist spectrum rose by around 14.5 percent to 38,800 right-wing extremists compared to the previous year. One of the reasons for the sharp increase here is that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is adding members of the AfD, which is being observed as a suspected case, for the first time. The Cologne administrative court confirmed the classification as a suspected case in March 2022. The AfD appealed. The procedure is not yet complete.
In explanation, the report for the protection of the constitution states: “In view of the continuing heterogeneity within the party in terms of content, not all party members can be regarded as supporters of the extremist currents.” The Federal Office estimates that 10,200 members of the AfD and its youth party (Young Alternative) can be attributed to these tendencies.
Right-wing extremism remains the greatest danger
“We are finding that boundaries within phenomenal areas are blurring and mixed scenes are forming,” said the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said that right-wing extremism remains the greatest threat to democracy.
Haldenwang also reported that the threat from Islamist terrorism remains high. Faeser said: “Our security authorities have already prevented two possible Islamist attacks in Castrop-Rauxel and in Hamburg this year.”
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the number of left-wing extremists increased by 5.2 percent to 36,500 people last year. More than one in four left-wing extremists are seen as violent. Among the approximately 40,000 right-wing extremists, the proportion of those oriented towards violence – 14,000 right-wing extremists are estimated as such – is somewhat higher.
The report on China contains an urgent warning. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution currently considers the People’s Republic to be “the greatest threat in terms of economic and scientific espionage and foreign direct investments in Germany”.