Political extremism rose sharply in Germany last year - among far-right but also far-left and Islamist radical groups - the domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday.
Germany on Friday put on trial a man accused of stabbing Cologne's mayor in the neck in a suspected violent protest against her welcoming stance towards refugees.
Germany's Constitutional Court has set a date in early 2016 for a controversial trial which could see the far-right National Democraic Party (NPD) banned.
Overt xenophobia and fascism have lost a lot of ground in Germany in recent years. But a new survey of attitudes shows a creeping tendency in moderate society to sympathise with core ideas of the far right in private.
Germany saw a sharp rise in attacks on foreigners in 2013, as well as more violence by and between left- and right-wing radicals, a government report said on Wednesday.
Last year 400 extremists were serving in the German army, most of whom had far-right extremist views, the secret service military branch said at the weekend. The service now wants increased powers to track them down.
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has called for the expulsion of Islamic religious leaders who preach hate and said Germany’s laws must be changed to accomplish that.
The emergence of an Islamist assassination plot targeting a leading far-right German politician should not push the country's mainstream political parties towards xenophobic populism, an expert on extremism told The Local on Thursday.
Four Muslim groups have pulled out of an anti-extremism partnership with the government in protest at a poster campaign which they say puts all Muslims under general suspicion.
Police arrested four people suspected of running an international far-right extremist website after early morning raids on 24 addresses in 11 of Germany’s 16 states – and one in Britain – on Thursday.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency the <i>Verfassungsschutz</i> is reportedly set to debate whether the country's Islamophobic scene represents a new form of extremism, and should be kept under surveillance.
The Central Council of Muslims has warned against putting all Muslim people under general suspicion of being radical or terrorists, ahead of Friday’s ‘Prevention Summit’ being held by the Interior Ministry.
Around 1,100 neo-Nazis gathered in Dortmund over the weekend for a big march through the western city on Saturday, attracting counter-demonstrators and conflict.
