Right-wing violence on rise in Eastern Germany: Report

BERLIN

Far-right extremists carried out over 1,200 attacks in the eastern German states in 2018, a new report revealed on Tuesday.

The report by the VBRG, an umbrella group of counseling centers for victims of right-wing violence, warned of growing violence by far-right extremists in Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

“Regrettably, we have witnessed eight-percent increase in such attacks last year,” VBRG’s chairman Robert Kusche told a news conference in Berlin.

“Every day, at least three people had become a victim of right-wing, racist or anti-Semitic acts of violence,” he said.

The VBRG’s centers in the eastern German states reported 1,212 attacks against foreigners, immigrants or political rivals last year, up from 1,123 such attacks in 2017.

At least 962 people were injured in these attacks, and 509 of them had serious injuries.

The eastern state of Saxony saw the highest number of violent crimes by right-wing extremists, with 317 attacks recorded last year, up from 229 in 2017.

Kusche underlined the importance of work carried out by counseling centers by both assisting the victims and closely monitoring the right-wing violence and publishing reliable statistics.

“In 2017 alone we have recorded 1,123 right-wing attacks in Berlin and eastern German states. But for the same year, the Federal Ministry of the Interior only recorded 821 attacks throughout the country,” he said.

Kusche said counseling centers in the western states could not provide independently established figures as they lacked financial sources for a comprehensive monitoring of right-wing violence in their region.