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Germany: right-wing violence rose over 40 percent last year
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A general view inside a room displaying the story of foreign people from Vietnam in former East Germany, at the exhibition 'Multicultural Germany, A Country Of Immigration' in Berlin, May 20. (AP/Markus Schreiber)
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iolent crimes motivated by right-wing political opinions rose more than 40 percent in Germany last year as the country saw a large influx of migrants, the government said Monday.
German authorities recorded 1,485 such crimes last year, up from 1,029 the previous year, according to annual crime statistics.
The Interior Ministry reported an even bigger increase in the broader category of "hate crimes," offenses of a racist or anti-Semitic nature or targeting people because of their religion. They rose 77 percent to 10,373 from 5,858 the previous year.
Offenses targeting homes for asylum seekers more than quadrupled to 923, with acts of violence against those homes increasing to 177 from 26 the previous year.
Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers in 2015, more than any other European country. While many Germans were welcoming, there has been strong opposition from a vocal minority, and concern over increasing anti-foreigner violence.
The large number of migrants led to the number of offenses against laws specifically concerning foreigners — such as illegal entry to the country or failure to register with authorities— more than doubling to 402,741 from 156,396. Those statistics "distort the picture of security in our country," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
That led to a 4.1 percent increase overall in all offenses recorded by police last year. But excluding those offenses exclusively concerning foreigners, the overall number was barely changed at a bit over 5.9 million, the government said.
