The number of politically motivated crimes committed in Germany increased last year for the fourth time in a row.
According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the increase of around seven percent to 58,916 crimes in the past year is related, among other things, to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, which was a major concern for many people in Germany in 2022 – also due to the fear of possible supply bottlenecks.
As can be seen from the statistics presented by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) in Berlin on Tuesday, the police also counted significantly more crimes in connection with climate and environmental protection. Here, the BKA recorded an increase of almost 73 percent to 1716 criminal offenses last year. Mostly it was about damage to property, coercion, threats and violations of the assembly law or trespassing.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have decreased
There was also an increase in 2022 in hate crimes, which the police believe were “xenophobic”, racist or “xenophobic” motives. 340 hate crimes were also classified as “anti-German”.
Although the number of anti-Semitic hate crimes fell by almost 13 percent, it was still relatively high at 2,641 crimes. The police assigned more than 80 percent of anti-Semitic crimes to the right-wing spectrum.
Last year, the police recorded a significant increase of almost 40 percent to 1,865 cases of criminal offenses committed by so-called Reich citizens and self-governors. According to the information, the focus here was on coercion, threats and insults. “Reich citizens” are people who do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution assigned around 23,000 people to the scene of “Reichsbürger” and “Selbstverwalter” in 2022 across Germany.
Although the number of criminal offenses based on religious ideology was roughly the same as in the previous year at 481 cases, the BKA emphasizes in its current report on politically motivated crime that the “continued high level of risk from Islamist terrorism within Germany” persists. (dpa)
