Germany to step up fight against right-wing extremism

The country has seen an increase in the number of right-wing extremists over the last few years.

Transcript

00:00 Germany's top security official is preparing to step up the battle against right-wing extremism.

00:09 It comes in the wake of an article published in January which accused extremists of meeting

00:13 to discuss deporting millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship.

00:20 Some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, whose support has doubled

00:25 since the country's 2021 election, were said to have taken part.

00:30 Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she aims to make it easier to trace right-wing

00:35 extremists' financing and plans to set up an early recognition unit to detect far-right

00:41 and foreign disinformation campaigns as early as possible.

00:45 "We want to destroy these right-wing extremist networks.

00:50 We want to take their money away from them.

00:53 We want to take their weapons away from them.

00:56 In short, we want to use all the instruments of the rule of law to protect our democracy."

01:02 The number of far-right extremists in Germany has been rising.

01:06 In 2022, their numbers grew to 38,000 people, with over half of them considered potentially

01:12 violent.

01:13 "Politically motivated crime has increased significantly in Germany in the last few years.

01:20 Within ten years, it has more than doubled."

01:22 As a result of January's article, many anti-far-right protests were held across Germany for several

01:28 weeks.

01:29 Many under the slogan "We are the firewall", a reference to the long-standing taboo against

01:35 collaborating with the far-right in German politics.

01:38 [WHOOSH]