Over half of politically motivated crimes in Germany committed by right-wing extremists

Well over half of the 36,062 politically motivated crimes in Germany last year were attributed to politically motivated criminality from the right, according to crime statistics presented by the German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Tuesday.

The number of cases of right-wing crimes carried out last year was 20,431, which was around the same as the previous year, according to the report compiled by the German Federal Police Office (BKA).

Although the total number of politically motivated acts of violence had declined by 8.7 percent compared to 2017, it was still at its third highest level since the introduction of the statistics in 2001, according to the interior ministry.

"That is no reason to sound the all-clear as politically motivated crime remains at a high level. We have every reason to remain vigilant," said Seehofer.

"The constitutional state will continue to use every means at its disposal to combat all forms of politically motivated crime," said the minister.

Meanwhile, the number of xenophobic crimes in Germany rose by almost 20 percent to around 7,700 last year, according to the BKA statistics.

The number of anti-Semitic crimes also increased by 19.6 percent to 1,799 cases compared to 2017 and "the vast majority of anti-Semitic crimes can still be attributed" to right-wing perpetrators.

"The increase in violent crimes and propaganda offences in the areas of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism is particularly worrying," said BKA president Holger Muench.

According to the BKA, the number of attacks on asylum and refugee accommodation declined by almost half last year, continuing a downward trend seen since February 2016.

"Whereas we still had 995 attacks in 2016, in 2018 there were only 173, i.e. a decline of over 80 percent in two years," said Seehofer.