Extremism: BKA President: Threat from the left spectrum is increasing

Against the backdrop of the Tesla attack, BKA boss Holger Münch warned of an increasing threat from left-wing extremists. The threat situation from the left-wing spectrum is also changing, said the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”.

“We have an increasing number of violent crimes. We have an increasing number of outstanding individual crimes and we also have perpetrators who evade prosecution and go into hiding,” he explained. “The whole thing taken together is an escalation of the threat from the left spectrum.”

Previously unknown perpetrators had set fire to a freely accessible electricity pylon in a field in eastern Brandenburg, which is part of the power supply for the Tesla car factory in Grünheide. Production therefore came to a standstill for several days. The far-left Vulcan group said it was responsible for the attack. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office took over the case and commissioned the BKA to investigate the initial suspicion, among other things, of membership in a terrorist organization and unconstitutional sabotage.

Münch emphasized that the investigations were complex. Attacks on critical infrastructure, including arson attacks, are not uncommon from the left spectrum. “Approximately 56 percent of all politically motivated arson attacks are carried out by left-wing extremist groups.” However, a slightly different modus operandi can be seen here. “Arson attacks have never caused such great damage in the past. And of course that also has the potential effect of encouraging copycat acts.” Therefore, everything will be done to identify the perpetrators as quickly as possible. “But it’s not easy because the group is very clandestine.”