Nancy Faeser assures that the country is going through a “tense” situation. Her statements come just when the Euro Cup is being held in the country.
The german democracy It is strong, but its security is going through a moment of tension according to the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser. She made these statements this Tuesday in BerlinGermany, while his department, responsible for internal security and the protection of the constitutional order, presented its 2023 annual report.
At the press conference, Faeser said that Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to “call into question the European peace order” and that the war in Gaza “unfortunately it is having repercussions” in Germany.
“We have massively reinforced all protective measures to arm ourselves against the current threats posed by extremism, terrorism and hybrid threats“, he claimed.
Russia, China and Iran have been using their intelligence and espionage services to spy on Germanysaid Faeser, and the Federal Attorney General arrested people responsible for sabotage operations planned in the country on behalf of Russia.
“Our security authorities have acted here very consistently and have prevented possible attacks with explosives in Germany. We will continue to do everything possible to thwart such plans,” she declared.
Thomas Haldenwang, head of the National Intelligence Agency, said at the press conference that there is not much “positive news” about the security situation in 2023 and that several negative trends continued from the previous year.
Protection of the Constitution
Among the most notable trends in the 2022 Report on the Protection of the Constitution is included increase in far-right crimes by almost 4% in the reference period, with an increase of 34% in extremist crimes attributed to extremist groups Reich citizeny self-management in the same period.
The number of potentially violent right-wing extremists increased to 14,500 last year, up from 14,000 in 2022, according to the German Internal Intelligence Agency’s 2023 report.
The total number of far-right crimes increased by more than 22%, to 25,660, of which more than half were propaganda, according to the agency. The Far-right violent crimes increased by 13%up to 1,148, of which 1,016 were injuries.
“The network activities of the so-called New Right have continued to increase,” Haldenwang declared, adding that the importance of these actors for the internal structure of the far-right scene is increasing.
However, the dangers posed by “violent left-wing extremists“They also remain high, reiterated the president of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
This is demonstrated by the “brutal well-planned attacks against political opponentsthe considerable violence against the Police and the serious arson attacks against businesses and critical infrastructure,” Haldenwang said.
The extreme right, on trial
The report was made public on the same day that eight German defendants faced their first day in court in Munich over accusations that They tried to overthrow the state in plans hatched in 2022.
The group planned to break into the Parliament building in Berlin and detain lawmakers, according to prosecutors. He supposedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order mainly with Russia as one of the winning allies of World War II.
The group was organized around Prince Reuss, German businessman and far-right defender of the monarchy. At the Munich State Court, 55 trial sessions have been scheduled until the end of January.
