Increase in attacks on religious communities Germany
German police officers patrol at the Rhine promenade. photo AFP, Ina Fassbender
Central Europe
In the past year, the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany recorded almost 3,000 attacks on religious communities. Seventy per cent of the incidents were directed against Jews.
Religious communities have become the target of extremist attacks much more frequently in 2020 than in the past, writes German magazine PRO. The Federal Criminal Police presented statistics on politically motivated crime on Tuesday. The authorities counted 2,985 attacks against religious communities last year. That was a 39 per cent increase compared to last year. Attacks on religious representatives have almost quadrupled - from 559 in 2019 to 2,217 last year.
According to the statistics, 70 per cent of these attacks were directed against representatives of Jewish communities. Around a quarter of the attacks were against representatives of Muslim religious communities. 90 Per cent of the crimes were motivated by right-wing extremists.
