The danger of right-wing militancy seems to be growing. According to information from the Tagesspiegel, the police registered 169 right-wing acts of violence from January to March, according to preliminary findings. That is almost 40 percent more than was reported in the first quarter of 2021. At that time, the police reported 123 crimes. At least 73 people were injured in right-wing attacks. The total number of right-wing crimes has also increased. From January to March, neo-Nazis and other right-wingers committed 3,605 crimes, compared to 3,467 in the same period last year.
The information can be found in the answers from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to regular inquiries from Bundestag Vice President Petra Pau (left) and her parliamentary group. The balance sheet for March and thus for the entire quarter is now available. Accordingly, right-wingers committed almost two acts of violence per day from January to March.
The numbers will likely continue to rise. Experience has shown that the police report criminal offenses over a long period of time. Many offenses only become known to the police later, and the officers do not immediately classify some offenses as politically motivated crime. In the first quarter, however, there was an increased threat from violent right-wing extremists – including terrorism. And the perpetrators are getting younger and younger.
Last week’s thwarted attack by a 16-year-old right-wing extremist on a school in Essen shocked the security authorities. The teenager was making nail bombs in his parents’ apartment. The police also found handwritten notes with SS runes and racist slogans. The far-right attacker who shot ten people in the US city of Buffalo on Saturday was only 18 years old. “It’s no longer manageable,” a security expert now told the Tagesspiegel, “where is the lower age limit for terrorism? Even small children move around the net.” It is feared that similarly radicalized minors will imitate the Essen and Buffalo cases.
Added to this is the fanaticism in the mixed scene of right-wing extremists, Reich citizens and corona deniers. In April, the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested four members of the United Patriots group, who are said to have planned attacks on the power supply and the kidnapping of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). The men had already obtained firearms. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the formation of a terrorist organization and the preparation of a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state. The suspects wanted to spark a civil war with the planned attacks. The attacks on the power supply should have triggered a nationwide blackout. For this “Day X” the fanatics apparently expected the outbreak of massive unrest in the country, which should lead to the overthrow of the government and the democratic system.
