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Pegida rally in Dresden (in July 2019): "Unstructured, subcultural spectrum"
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Sean Gallup / Getty Images
The security authorities in Saxony are confronted with an apparently massively growing threat from constitutional enemies.
The greatest threat to democracy is currently from right-wing extremists, said Interior Minister Roland Wöller (CDU).
This is shown by figures from the new report for the protection of the constitution.
"With 3,400 people, we recorded an increase of 600 people in 2019," said the CDU politician.
This means that there are more right-wing extremists in the Free State than there have been since 1993.
At that time there were also 3400.
According to Wöller, the number of violent right-wing extremists also rose dramatically by about a third, from 1500 to 2000 now. Unlike in the past, when the NPD was a strong political force in Saxony, right-wing extremists now "largely belong to the unstructured, subcultural spectrum" .
According to the report, the increase is distributed across all districts, the scene remains present throughout Saxony.
"In the social media a serious breeding ground is forming from which dangerous crimes can grow"
President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Dirk-Martin Christian
The threat situation is therefore different, as the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Dirk-Martin Christian said: "Social media heat each other up. And it is precisely there that a serious breeding ground develops, from which radicalization processes and ultimately dangerous crimes can grow."
The assessment for the next few years is correspondingly pessimistic: "The protection of the Constitution will continue to be concerned with the worrying development that right-wing extremists are subtly trying to infiltrate the middle class."
The number of racist crimes fell, according to the report (from 571 to 464), which the constitutionalists attribute to the "declining asylum issue".
However, crimes against political opponents have risen sharply, by around 80 percent to more than 200 cases.
In the left-wing extremist spectrum, the potential of people remains constant, as Interior Minister Wöller said.
Around 760 people are currently included in the scene, and there have always been a little more in recent years.
However, according to Wöller, the authorities perceive a disinhibition of violence: "If up to now this was primarily directed against things, personal injuries are now accepted with approval at meetings or actions in secret."
The center of the left-wing autonomous scene is still Leipzig, the city remains a "focal point of left-wing extremist violence" nationwide.
According to the protection of the constitution, Islamism in Saxony is at a comparatively low level in a national comparison - but, as in all of Germany, there is a "persistently high abstract risk situation".
You could not give the all-clear for any area of extremism, said Constitutional Protection President Christian: "Rising personal potential, an increasing willingness to use violence and the successful penetration of extremists into the middle of society are worrying developments."
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