Germany Sees ‘Alarmingly High’ Number Of Anti-Migrant Crimes

Protestors attend a demonstration of the PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West), marking the first anniversary of the anti-Islam group in Dresden, eastern Germany, Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. A ... Protestors attend a demonstration of the PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West), marking the first anniversary of the anti-Islam group in Dresden, eastern Germany, Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. A surge of migrants to Germany over the summer has fueled a revival of fortunes for the group — whose name stands for "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West" — with crowds to weekly rallies growing steadily. Germany's top security official said the domestic intelligence service was monitoring PEGIDA and called its leaders "hard far-right extremists." (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Interior Ministry says a new report showing more than 3,500 attacks in 2016 on migrants and their homes is “alarmingly high and cause for concern” but says authorities are prosecuting the crimes aggressively and the numbers are now falling.

Most of the crimes were things like vandalism to asylum-seeker homes, including far-right graffiti, threats and slander but the report also included more serious attacks like arson, bodily harm and attempted murder. It was compiled by the Interior Ministry with information from Germany’s 16 states.

Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth says Monday “there was a very wide spectrum of crimes … every one is to be condemned.”

Comparison figures for previous years haven’t been compiled but Dimroth said after 2016 the “trend is downward … which gives us a little bit of hope.”

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Latest World News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: