Germany saw more politically motivated crimes in 2021

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s top security official says the number of politically motivated crimes reported in the country last year rose 23% compared to the year before. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday that the increase included a sharp rise in crimes that could not be assigned to the traditional categories of crimes motivated by right-wing or left-wing ideology. She says a significant proportion of these “more diverse and diffuse” offenses were committed in connection with coronavirus restrictions and Germany’s 2021 federal election. Faeser said 41% of the victims of politically motivated violence were attacked by right-wing extremists, a force she called “the greatest extremist threat to people in our country.”