Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has reported a surge in leftwing extremism, in response to the resurgent far right and Israel’s actions in the Middle East.

Violent crimes motivated by leftwing ideological beliefs include attempted murder, assaults, sabotage and arson attacks and rose 60 per cent in 2025, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said on Tuesday.

“Leftwing extremism is on the rise again in Germany and poses a threat to public safety and order,” said interior minister Alexander Dobrindt at a news conference presenting the intelligence agency’s annual report.

He added that the phenomenon was largely a reaction to the already widespread problem of rightwing extremism in Germany, warning of a radicalising dynamic developing between the two.

“For both groups — leftwing extremists and rightwing extremists alike — we can see here that the potential for violence is rising significantly,” Dobrindt said.

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An electricity substation in Berlin was destroyed by the leftwing terrorist Vulkangruppe in January, leaving some 100,000 residents without power in freezing conditions for several days. Authorities were surprised by the attack and have struggled to trace the origins of the group or its membership.

Leftwing terrorism plays a dark role in postwar German history: during the 1970s and 1980s the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, conducted a campaign of robberies and bombings. They assassinated US soldiers, German diplomats and the CEO of Deutsche Bank as well as many ordinary West German citizens.

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The BfV is now tracking multiple extremist leftwing organisations, many of which profess violence as a political tool and are mostly underground.

“We’re dealing here with highly secretive structures . . . which, at times, also operate very professionally,” said BfV president Sinan Selen.

German intelligence and law enforcement services were working hard to penetrate the organisations, he said. “Various security agencies are very active in this area, and we’ll see what the coming months bring in this respect.”

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Under Selen, the agency has also sought to have the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which now polls as the country’s largest political party — classified as a rightwing extremist organisation.

The determination was struck down by a German court in February but is still under review.

“My personal assessment is that the AfD is an extremist party,” Dobrindt said on Tuesday. His agency’s goal was to continue to scrutinise the party and its membership, he said.

...

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18 comments in c/world@lemmy.world view that post
[–] 15 points 3 months ago

LoL, Germany trying to tie as much as possible to anti-genocide protesters to then excuse even harsher treatment by the Gestapo police

Pro-Palestinian movements in Germany are proving fertile recruiting grounds for extremist organisations that have infiltrated them

For people that don't know, Germany is so fucked in the head about Israel that there were actual anarchist groups in Germany that were supportive of Israel's genocide. Now Germany is trying to tie random groups to anti-genocide protests and not once did they mention a source or correlation or anything that connects the two.

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  • [–] 44 points 4 months ago (10 children)

    I'm not really surprised considering the already-present and infinitely more dangerous threat from right-wing terrorism and extremism.

    The left in Germany probably understands what will happen to them if cunts like the conservatives and AfD get more power.

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  • [–] 22 points 4 months ago

    Pretty much. The government hardly does anything about nazis and nazism. They'll beat and arrest people protesting an AFD congress, they'll happily support Israel's genocide and they'll Hunt down anyone Who criticizes them for it.

    So. Yeah. The fuck else do you expect. Protecting human rights was never a question. It was a demand.

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  • [+] [S] -15 points 4 months ago (8 children)

    The left in Germany probably understands what will happen to them if cunts like the conservatives and AfD get more power.

    And how does attacking a railway or an electricity substation that leaves some 100,000 residents without power help?

    These leftwing extremists are basically the same mentally deranged 'cunts' as the rightwingers, it's just that they fabricate different fantasies to justify violence. But it's the same mindset, equally disconnected from reality.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago* (4 children)
  • [+] [S] -14 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    And?

    How does attacking a railway or an electricity substation that leaves some 100,000 residents without power help to achieve what @Insekticus@aussie.zone claimed?

    These leftwing extremists are the same mentally deranged ‘cunts’ as the rightwingers, it’s just that they fabricate different fantasies to justify violence. But it’s the same mindset, equally disconnected from reality.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    U high on fossil fumes or something?

    Right-wing extremism: "Wrong colour of skin or birth place means you're subhuman and don't have rights."

    Left-wing extremism: "Stop killing the planet and everything on it, asshole!"

    How are the the two even remotely the same?

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  • [–] [S] -3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    @lath@piefed.social

    How does sabotage of a railway station or the electricity grid that leaves 100,000 citizens without power help?

    They are the same because the only thing they are interested in is violence. The only thing they cause is harm for other, innocent people.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Alright, let's take a step back. Any extremist group has a goal in mind, but we call them extremist because their methods and/or the goal itself are taken to the extreme.

    As for the innocent. That's a blanket statement that doesn't apply to everyone. There's innocence, ignorance and indifference. The innocent did nothing wrong, the ignorant were unaware of doing something wrong and the indifferent didn't care they were doing something wrong.

    So, identify the group who caused the sabotage, consider their reasoning, ascertain the guilt of the targeted party and determine whether it was justified. After that, of the innocent affected, estimate the ratio of innocence/ignorance/indifference and punish the extremist group accordingly.

    Please remember that inconvenience does not merit the same punishment as causing death or grevious harm.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago

    Germany has a vast rightwing problem along with being bought and paid for by the zionists, same as the US.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago*

    German government is once again pro-war crimes.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    minor annoyance with the title: while article acknowledges that extremism already exists on right end of spectrum left is only catching up, title make it sound as if left is the only wing with extremist leniencies

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago
    [–] -2 points 4 months ago

    “Leftwing extremism is on the rise again in Germany and poses a threat to public safety and order,”

    Again?... unless, they're talking about the old days...

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  • 11 comments in c/world view that post
    [–] 20 points 4 months ago

    Alexander Dobrindt likes to present left extremist crimes as worse than right extremist crimes. Showing charts with different y axis scaled to make the left look worse. On top of ignoring that the right commits significantly more violent crimes than the left.

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  • [–] 11 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

    Funny, because in France (which isn't that different from Germany) they recently asked the cops to determine the threats of violence from both left and right.

    The cops' findings (and let's not forget that most French cops, like in other countries probably, vote for the far-right) was that right-wing violence was a real security threat, while left-wing violence wasn't.

    Germany is just trying to imitate Macron, place their right-right-wing ideas as the center, and say that everything on either side of this is extremist and terrorist.

    Also, I'd like to point out that every fascist government will classify anti-fascism as terrorism. There's a reason why pacific protesters in the UK are arrested on terrorism charges.

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    The right-wingers are active in Germany, too. There's no difference between far-right and far-left extremism. Both is violence, both does no good, it helps no one.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    I'm sorry, but if a nazi kills someone for being gay, it's not the same as an antifa killing a nazi.

    Violence is not all the same, and it's a very dangerous thing to imply. With this logic, the resistance that was killing nazis during WW2 was as wrong as the nazis, and helped no one, because they were violent, and there's no difference between the two.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago

    And they are for sure gonna do the thing were they focus on mostly non life threatening "left wing terrorism" and downplay right wing terrorism. Not like its a bad thing to oppose the genocide supporting, climate oppressing, working on militarism German state.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago

    The title makes a jump from extremism to terrorism.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (3 children)

    Op, please provide a non Kremlin source.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Its Financial Times, not Russian times. FT not RT

    🙇 1
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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Minor correction: RT actually stands for "Russia Today"

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Good call out, shows how much I watch Russian state media. Like I'm not a Russia propaganda alarmist, but anything I watched there was garbage. FT is mostly capitalist propaganda garbo too, but a few decent articles sneak in from time to time, and being a British publication they can be a bit more objective about American events, plus British journalism seems to bee more critical by cultural definition, but that could just be bias.

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  • 6 comments in c/globalnews@lemmy.zip view that post
    [–] 8 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Good. Very good. Make the nazi, fascist, fucktard, windowlickers afraid. Make MAGA Afraid.

    And don't forget the adage I grew up on as an '80s punk: "see a nazi, punch a nazi". Violence is always an option.

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  • [–] [S] -4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    @Valentine Angel (@1error@lemmy.world)

    Violence is always an option.

    I don't understand why such an open call for violence can be online for 9 hours here.

    @BrikoX@lemmy.zip

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    What planet are you from where violence is not an option?

    It should be the last option reached for. But it is an option. Pointing that out is not a call to violence. No matter how hard you clutch your stupid ugly pearls.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago

    It's a simple question Germany: Which Side are you On?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Get fucked, FT.

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