Authorities across the country have carried out searches against those suspected of being responsible for hate and incitement on the Internet. In total, more than 70 apartments were searched on Thursday morning and numerous suspects were questioned, the Federal Criminal Police Office announced. “Once again, more than half of the hate postings processed could be attributed to the phenomenon of politically motivated crime – right-wing,” explained the BKA, which is coordinating the day of action. In total, there were more than 130 police measures in all federal states, said a spokesperson for the agency.
About a third of the cases involved politically motivated crimes that could not be clearly attributed to a particular political orientation. Some cases also occurred in the area of ”foreign ideology” and “religious ideology”.
The punishable postings included inflammatory content and propaganda offenses such as the use of swastikas or other Nazi symbols. There were also anti-Semitic statements with reference to the Middle East conflict, such as the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the BKA explained. The sentence can be understood as a call for the destruction of Israel and the expulsion and annihilation of the Jewish population.
In addition, postings containing threats and insults against politicians, officials and elected representatives were monitored. “The threats sometimes include concrete execution scenarios,” the authority explained.