23 May, 2006
Germany's interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble has expressed concern over a steep rise in far-right crimes. At the annual presentation of the domestic intelligence report, Schäuble appealed to Germans not to look the other way when witnessing a violent attack on somebody. "There must not be any no-go areas in Germany," he told a news conference at which he presented the 2005 report of the domestic intelligence service. The report shows that the number of racially motivated acts committed by far-right extremists rose by 23 per cent to 958 in 2005, compared to the previous year, while the number of far-right extremists deemed ready to engage in violence increased by 400 to 10,400. The total number of politically motivated crimes, though, rose by 27 per cent to 15,361, most of which related to far-right propaganda such as displaying the Nazi swastika, which is prohibited in Germany.
The report's findings coincide with a debate about remarks last week by a former government spokesman who advised dark-skinned visitors to Germany to avoid eastern parts of the country such as Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin. "There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg, as well as elsewhere, which I would advise a visitor of another skin color to avoid going to," said Uwe-Karsten Heye, who was the chief spokesman of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and who now leads an anti-racism organization called "Show Your Color." "It is possible that one will not get out alive."
