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 (BKA) in Wiesbaden announced. In total, there were more than 130 police measures in all federal states, said a spokesman for the authority.
“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 coordinated the day of action.
“We must stop the spiral of hate and violence,” said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD). “The hate that is spread online is the breeding ground for violence.” That is why the BKA, together with the state police, is taking consistent action against hate crimes. “More than 130 measures nationwide today are exactly the tough approach that we need.”
On the one hand, this is directed against Islamist and anti-Semitic agitation that glorifies the terror of Hamas and denies Israel’s existence. “We are taking equally decisive action against right-wing extremist and anti-democratic hate postings, including disgusting death threats against officials and elected representatives in our country,” said Faeser.
According to the BKA, around a third of the cases were politically motivated crimes that could not be clearly attributed to a political orientation. Some cases also occurred in the areas of “foreign ideology” and “religious ideology”.
The criminal postings included inflammatory content and propaganda offenses such as the use of swastikas or other Nazi symbols, the Federal Criminal Police Office explained. 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 sentence (in German: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”) 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.”
According to the information, the number of hate postings registered by the police rose massively last year. Overall, the number more than doubled from 3,396 to 8,011 cases. In the areas of politically motivated crime – foreign ideology and religious ideology – there was even a fourfold increase, and in the case of right-wing ideology a threefold increase. One reason for this is also the increasing level of information provided by the Central Reporting Office for Criminal Content on the Internet (ZMI) of the BKA in cooperation with other partners.
In the fight against hate crimes on the internet, the BKA called on citizens to report if they come across such postings or are themselves victims. It is also possible to report such statements to social network providers, reporting centers or the state media authorities.