Over the past twelve months, the number of right-wing extremists that are considered possible terrorist threats by police has risen to 65. National security forces have also registered a decline in the number of Islamic-related threats.

A rise in the right-wing extremists’ threats

The number of right-wing extremists in Germany has risen significantly over the past year. Since the beginning of 2020, thirteen new extremists have been designated as threats needing to be closely monitored by the federal state police.

Back to June 2019, when the politician Walter Lübcke was murdered by a suspected right-wing extremist, police were aware a total of 39 other such extremists that were considered capable of carrying out an attack in the country. This is according to the federal government, who were responding to an enquiry from FDP politician Benjamin Strasser.

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), who counted 43 extremist threats in October 2019, have now identified 65 right-wing extremists whom they consider capable of carrying out an attack in Germany - nearly twice as many as this time last year.

Strasser, however, suggests that this figure is still much too low: “There are almost 15.000 violent right-wing extremists in Germany, and yet only a fraction of them are listed as dangerous by the police.” He pointed out that such a significant increase over the past year shows a clear need for more effective classification.

Strasser calls for more vigilance

Strasser has called for the BKA to swiftly roll out its “Radar right” risk assessment system - which is designed to identify potentially dangerous right-wing terrorists. Strasser also called for authorities to still remain vigilant about other security issues, despite focusing more attention on combatting right-wing extremism.

Contrarily, the number of Islamic-related threats has dropped over the past year. In February this year, police forces across the country had identified about 660 people whom they considered dangerous and capable of carrying out serious acts of violence. This is a decrease of around 100 from the same time last year.