Right-wing violence on rise in Eastern Germany: Report

BERLIN (AA) – Far-right extremists carried out over 1,200 attacks in the eastern German states in 2018, a new report revealed on Tuesday.</p> <p>The report by the VBRG, an umbrella group of counseling centers for victims of right-wing violence, warned of growing violence by far-right extremists in Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. </p> <p>“Regrettably, we have witnessed eight-percent increase in such attacks last year,” VBRG’s chairman Robert Kusche told a news conference in Berlin. </p> <p>“Every day, at least three people had become a victim of right-wing, racist or anti-Semitic acts of violence,” he said. </p> <p>The VBRG’s centers in the eastern German states reported 1,212 attacks against foreigners, immigrants or political rivals last year, up from 1,123 such attacks in 2017. </p> <p>At least 962 people were injured in these attacks, and 509 of them had serious injuries. </p> <p>The eastern state of Saxony saw the highest number of violent crimes by right-wing extremists, with 317 attacks recorded last year, up from 229 in 2017. </p> <p>Kusche underlined the importance of work carried out by counseling centers by both assisting the victims and closely monitoring the right-wing violence and publishing reliable statistics. </p> <p>“In 2017 alone we have recorded 1,123 right-wing attacks in Berlin and eastern German states. But for the same year, the Federal Ministry of the Interior only recorded 821 attacks throughout the country,” he said. </p> <p>Kusche said counseling centers in the western states could not provide independently established figures as they lacked financial sources for a comprehensive monitoring of right-wing violence in their region.