Status: 03/02/2023 06:46 a.m
The Federal Ministry of the Interior counted significantly more attacks on accommodation for asylum seekers in 2022 than in previous years. Most of the crimes were motivated by the right. The left-wing faction in the Bundestag is alarmed.
In the past year, the number of attacks on refugee shelters has increased significantly. In 2022 there were 121 robberies, attacks, property damage and physical attacks. That is an increase of 73 percent compared to 2021, when there were 70 such crimes.
This is the result of preliminary figures published by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in response to a request from the left-wing faction and which are available in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. Despite the significant increase, the number of attacks on refugee accommodation was still well below the peak at the time of the refugee crisis in 2015. At that time, 1047 attacks on accommodation for asylum seekers were recorded.
In addition, the authorities recorded 1,248 attacks against asylum seekers or refugees outside of accommodation last year. That was about as many as in the previous year with 1259 cases. Every day three asylum seekers are victims of attacks in Germany. The crimes were mostly right-wing motivated.
The left is alarmed
It was the first time since 2015 that the number of attacks has increased again. According to the report, the reasons for this are the expiry of the Corona requirements and the increased number of refugees.
Significantly more people came to Germany last year, mainly as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In 2022, almost 218,000 asylum seekers came to Germany – as many as last in 2016. There were also almost a million Ukrainians.
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?”