December 17, 2019 - 3:19 AM
BERLIN - Germany is adding hundreds of new federal police officers and domestic intelligence agents as it steps up its fight against far-right extremism in the wake of several high-profile incidents in the past year, officials said Tuesday.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the Federal Criminal Police Office and the BfV intelligence agency would each add 300 positions dedicated to investigating and preventing far-right crimes, without weakening efforts focused on far-left crimes and Islamic extremism.
“This is a very big challenge for the internal security of Germany,” he told reporters.
Seehofer said the overall security situation in Germany is good, but said there have also been “terrible isolated incidents” that have shaken people's confidence.
He noted the October attack on a synagogue in the city of Halle in which the suspect posted an anti-Semitic screed before attacking the building, then killed two people outside when he could not get in; and the June slaying of a regional politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party who supported her welcoming stance toward refugees.
There are some 12,000 people in Germany with far-right views who are considered to be potentially violent.
Federal Criminal Police Office head Holger Muench noted, however, that about half of far-right crimes are committed by suspects not already known to police, including the Halle synagogue attack.
Part of the job of the new units will be to dig deeper into associations, clubs and online networks to better identify potential perpetrators and stop crimes before they happen.
They will also look inward, to ensure that people with far-right views are not in public services like police agencies, the military or other jobs, said BfV head Thomas Haldenwang.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019