A series of closely fought elections, the war in Gaza and deepening political polarization helped drive the number of politically motivated crimes in Germany to a record high last year, with an especially sharp growth in far-right violence.

The number of such offenses recorded by police surged 40.2% to 84,172 in 2024, a report published on Tuesday by the Interior Ministry showed, a record since such data began to be collected in 2001. The number of violent political crimes rose 15% to 4,107, the highest level since 2016.

"Last year we saw a massive expansion of politically motivated crime coming from the right," conservative Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told a news conference at which the figures were announced.

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