Hostility and violence
Police register significantly more attacks on refugees than in 2022
November 14, 2023, 4:53 a.m
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Germany is not necessarily a safe place for refugees. The number of politically motivated attacks on asylum seekers and their accommodation is increasing significantly. In most cases, the perpetrators come from right-wing extremist circles.
The number of attacks on refugees, asylum seekers and their accommodation has increased significantly. There were more such attacks in the first nine months of this year than in the entire previous year, according to a response from the federal government to a request from the Left Party. Accordingly, 1,515 such attacks were counted in the first three quarters of this year, after 1,371 attacks in 2022.
The statistics show that an accommodation was the crime scene or target of a politically motivated crime occurred a total of 30 times in the third quarter of this year. Three of these cases were violent crimes. The majority of the attacks on shelters – 23 crimes – were attributed by the police to the right-wing scene.
The police also assume that 375 of 417 politically motivated crimes outside of accommodation facilities registered during this period, which were directed against asylum seekers or recognized refugees, were right-wing motivated crimes. 19 crimes were attributed to the phenomenon of “foreign ideology”, two were classified as left-wing motivated. For some, the background remained unclear. Violence was involved in a total of 55 cases.
“Refugees in Germany are attacked, humiliated and treated with hostility every day,” said left-wing MP Clara Bünger. The federal and state governments urgently need to develop and implement suitable protection concepts. Bünger sees one reason for the increase in attacks in the current debate about asylum issues. In their view, this “prepares the ground for racist mobilizations on the streets and acts of violence against refugees.”