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The BKA calls for illegal hate comments to be reported
Photo: Lukas Schulze / dpa
The police took action all over Germany against the distributors of criminal content on the Internet.
In all federal states there have been a total of 90 police measures, including house searches and interrogations, said the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden on Wednesday.
It was the seventh day of action by the police against hate postings.
The BKA pointed out that threats, coercion or incitement to hatred on the Internet are criminal offenses that can be punished with up to five years in prison.
The number of criminal hate postings recorded by the police had risen to 2607 cases last year - 71 percent more than in 2019. In addition, a large number of unreported cases can be assumed.
With 23 of the 90 police actions, the focus was in Bavaria.
State Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) said: "The consistent action of the police and public prosecutor's office is very important to me." This also includes the meticulous evaluation of the confiscated evidence.
"This often gives us investigative approaches to further offenses and perpetrators."
The CSU politician warned that hate postings could be the preliminary stage for further escalations.
"We are therefore intensifying the fight against hatred on the Internet and are planning further cross-border campaigns, also to deter potential agitators," explained Herrmann.
Self-written death sentences published
According to the State Office of Criminal Investigation, four objects were searched in Lower Saxony.
In addition, an arrest warrant was obtained that was carried out in Baden-Württemberg.
The arrested person is said to have published his death sentences and called on his supporters to carry them out.
The man's social media channels were switched off and the living quarters of his two alleged accomplices were searched.
According to the investigators, there were ten police actions in Hesse, accusing nine men and one woman between the ages of 19 and 63 years.
These are alleged to have sexually insulted and threatened politicians and women because of their activities.
They are also said to have spread National Socialist symbols such as swastikas and played down the Holocaust.
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In Rhineland-Palatinate, police searched five objects.
Cell phones and data carriers were confiscated and are now to be evaluated.
The BKA calls for illegal hate comments to be reported, anonymously if necessary, for example to the responsible online guard.
pbe / AFP