Far-right extremism identified as the biggest threat to democracy in Germany

German Interior Minister Nancy Weser said they consider far-right extremism the biggest threat to democracy in the country.

“Right-wing extremism remains a persistent challenge because it is the greatest extremist threat to the basic democratic order,” Weisser, presenting an annual report on extremism in Germany, told reporters in Berlin.

“In 2022, the number of crimes with a far-right background increased by 3.8%, to around 21,000. In addition, the potential right-wing extremist willing to use violence rose again by 500, to more than 14,000. “The risk of right-wing extremism and right-wing terrorism is deadly.” .

The report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said the number of people belonging to the far-right spectrum rose by 14.5% to 38,800 compared to the previous year.

One reason for the sharp increase is that the agency now includes members of the far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD). It is noted as a suspected case.

Germany has been rocked by a string of deadly far-right killings in recent years. Among them is the murder of a provincial politician by a suspected neo-Nazi; An attack on a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle and a fatal shooting of nine people with immigrant backgrounds in the southern German city of Hanau.