The tendency toward violence continues to grow among far-right extremists in Germany, recent reports of the domestic intelligence agency have revealed.
In 2013, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency identified some 21,750 far-right extremists in the country, 9,500 of whom are potentially violent, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper reported on Monday.
While the total number of far-right extremists decreased from 30,000 in 2008 to 21,750 in 2013, the tendency toward violence has grown in the far-right scene, an official from the domestic intelligence agency told Der Tagesspiegel.
Among the 9,500 potentially violent right-wing extremists, 5,800 of them were Neonazis, according to the report.
Germany’s far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) lost around 500 members last year due to intra-party conflicts and ongoing public debate on the NPD's ban. The party currently has around 5,500 members.
According to the report, far-right party Die Rechte has 500 members while the anti-Muslim “pro-NRW party” has around 1,000.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has warned that far-right parties are planning to launch an anti-immigration campaign ahead of European Parliament elections in May.
