Germany expects 2009 to be record year for right-wing crimes

Dec 17, 2009, 15:44 GMT

Berlin - The number of crimes associated with right-wing extremism in Germany is expected to reach a record level in 2009, the head of the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) said on Thursday.

BKA chief Joerg Ziercke said in Berlin that his office projected that even more racist or neo-Nazi associated crimes would be recorded for the full year than in 2008, when more than 20,000 incidents were noted by authorities.

'We are facing a frightening situation,' Ziercke said.

Ziercke warned against cutting federal and state so-called 'exit programmes' for individuals connected with the neo-Nazi and extremist scene in the face of budget constraints.

Some 30,000 people in Germany are believed to be involved in neo- Nazi activities according to federal authorities, and around a third of those are thought to be ready or capable of violence.

Ziercke also said that in the past year right-wing crimes had become particularly brutal, posing a 'special threat to life and limb.'

The most high-profile case of right-wing hate crimes in recent years was the murder of Egyptian woman Marwa el-Shirbini in a courtroom in Dresden in July 2009.

The man convicted of her murder admitted to having abused her because she wore an Islamic headscarf.

Ziercke also said that every month on average three anti-Semitic violent crimes took place.

Since German reunification in 1990, 47 murders associated with racist motives have taken occurred.

The rise in right-wing crimes has been accompanied by a similar jump in left-wing extremist violence. The daily Bild newspaper quoted a BKA report on December 16 as saying that in the first nine months of 2009 left-wing violence had increased by nearly 40 per cent over the previous year.

Police in Germany often have to intervene to separate gangs of opposing neo-Nazi and left-wing supporters at demonstrations.