The Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns of ongoing threats from extremists in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The scenarios involving right-wing extremists and Islamists are quite stirring, Ebling added. They can effortlessly gain traction even among non-extremist groups. The worth and ability among these groups have been on the rise.
When it comes to Islamism, the Verfassungsschutz noted a rise in this value from 660 people in 2022 to approximately 700 the following year. As far as right-wing extremists go, their numbers escalated from 750 to 770. The sector displaying the greatest value, per the Verfassungsschutz report, is the so-called Reichsbürger and self-administrators, whose count jumped from 950 to 1050.
Ebling listed the attack by Hamas, a radical Palestinian group, on Israel in October, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Corona pandemic as reasons for the heightened risks. These crises have "deep-seated and permanent repercussions" for democracy, the minister underlined. Extremists would capitalize on people's insecurities and propel spiteful viewpoints into the mainstream.
The number of crimes influenced by right-wing extremism in Rhineland-Palatinate increased noticeably in the previous year. According to the Verfassungsschutz report 2023, there were a total of 1245 offenses. The year prior, there were only 740 offenses. Meanwhile, the number of criminal acts related to religious ideology increased from seven to thirty-nine.
The count of anti-Semitic crimes also saw a considerable surge - from 46 incidents in 2022 to 171 incidents. 62% of these crimes were linked to the right-wing ideological sphere. In total, the number of politically-motivated crimes increased from 1672 to 2009 - a bump of approximately 20%.
