More than 80 right-wing extremists are now considered dangerous. Close monitoring ties up a lot of staff, and a standardized instrument for assessing individuals was urgently required.
The police nationwide have more and more right-wing threats on their screens. In the left-wing extremist scene, too, the number of people whom the security authorities believe to be capable of serious, politically motivated crimes is increasing – albeit at a significantly lower level.
In the case of potentially dangerous Islamists, the police have identified a further decline this year, which began in 2018. However, with currently 531 Islamist threats, it is still high, as can be seen from a response from the federal government to a request from his parliamentary group initiated by AfD domestic politician Martin Hess.
increase of around 17 percent
The police describe people as dangerous who they believe are capable of serious, politically motivated acts of violence – including terrorist attacks. The classification of people as dangerous is basically the responsibility of the police authorities of the federal states.
As the federal government goes on to explain in its response, which is available to the German Press Agency, the police counted a total of 81 right-wing extremists at the beginning of June. This is an increase of around 17 percent compared to June 2021.
In November 2011, when the terrorist neo-Nazi group NSU (National Socialist Underground) was exposed, only four right-wing extremists were classified as dangerous. It was only after the deaths of Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos that the police realized that neo-Nazis had killed eight business people from Turkey, a small business owner with Greek roots and a policewoman in different federal states between 2000 and 2007. After the attacks, investigations were carried out in the wrong direction for years.
In June 2019, a right-wing extremist shot the Kassel District President Walter Lübcke, who had spoken out in favor of taking in refugees. At that time, the police counted 39 right-wing threats.
In October of the same year, an armed assassin tried in vain to enter a synagogue in Halle on a Jewish holiday. When he failed, he shot a passer-by and a man in a kebab shop. In February 2020, a mentally ill racist in Hanau killed nine people with a migration background, his mother and then himself.
Sometimes more staff
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the federal and state police authorities have reacted to these acts of violence, and some departments have been given additional staff. “Since the right-wing terrorist crimes of recent years, the police focus on right-wing networks and Internet activities has been further expanded,” says the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The exchange of information between the various security authorities in the Common Extremism and Counter-Terrorism Center has recently been “intensified”.
Since last May, the police have been using a new tool to help assess which right-wing perpetrators are particularly at risk of committing a serious, ideologically motivated crime. This helps when deciding which extremists need to be monitored particularly closely, which ties up a lot of staff. Such an instrument previously only existed for Islamist threats.
There has also been a continuous increase in left-wing extremists classified as dangerous over the past few years, although there are far fewer of them. While six people still fell into this category at the beginning of 2021, by June last year the police had already had nine left-wing threats in their sights. In the meantime, the number of threats in the area of left-wing, politically motivated crime is twelve. With a view to well over 1000 violent crimes per year by people from this phenomenon, the exchange of information has also been increased here, a BKA spokesman said on request.
But fewer Islamist threats
The fact that the police authorities now have fewer Islamist threats to keep an eye on has to do with the military successes in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia in Syria and Iraq. They have led to a decline in people leaving or attempting to leave the areas formerly controlled by IS.
Some people who were previously classified as dangerous have now distanced themselves from the Islamist scene, the BKA said on request. Others had died. If a threat leaves Germany, he is not automatically declassified. This only leads to “a permanent stay abroad without any recognizable possibility or willingness to return”.
Source: Stern
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