Latest news with #LastWaveOfDefence
Al Jazeera
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Germany arrests minors over alleged attacks on asylum seekers, migrants
German police have arrested five people accused of involvement with a far-right group calling itself 'Last Wave of Defence', which allegedly aimed to carry out attacks on asylum seekers, migrants and political opponents. The early-morning arrests on Wednesday in various parts of Germany followed arson attacks on a community centre and a refugee shelter. Germany's Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said in a statement that what was 'particularly shocking is that all those arrested today are said to have been minors when the terrorist group was founded'. According to federal prosecutors, 13 properties were also searched on Wednesday as part of the operation. Four of those arrested – identified only as Benjamin H, Ben-Maxim H, Lenny M and Jason R, in line with German privacy rules – are suspected of membership in a domestic terrorist organisation. The fifth, Jerome M, is accused of supporting the group. Two of the arrested are also accused of attempted murder and aggravated arson. Their ages were not disclosed. Prosecutors said they are also investigating three other people who are already in custody. According to the prosecutors, the group was formed in mid-April 2024 or earlier. They said that its members saw themselves as the last resort to defend the 'German nation' and aimed to bring about the collapse of Germany's democratic order. Two of the suspects set a fire at a cultural centre in Altdobern in eastern Germany in October, prosecutors alleged, adding that several people living in the building at the time escaped injury only by chance. In January, another two suspects allegedly broke a window at a home for asylum seekers in Schmolln and tried unsuccessfully to start a blaze by setting off fireworks. They daubed the group's initials and slogans such as 'Foreigners out,' 'Germany for the Germans' and 'Nazi area' on the walls, as well as swastikas, prosecutors said. Also in January, three suspects allegedly planned an arson attack on a home for asylum seekers in Senftenberg, but it never came about because of the earlier arrests of two of the men. Politically motivated crimes in Germany surged about 40 percent to a record high last year, a report by the interior ministry showed on Tuesday, with an especially sharp growth seen in far-right violence. In recent years, anti-immigrant and refugee sentiments have grown in Germany, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) expanding its number of seats in the German parliament on an anti-immigrant platform in elections earlier this year. Chancellor Friedrich Merz had also campaigned on dramatically tightening border policy and bringing irregular migration to a halt. Since taking office under a coalition, his government has also laid out a range of tougher proposals, including suspending family reunification for many refugees, and implementing plans for deportations to previously excluded countries such as Syria and Afghanistan.
CNA
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Germany arrests far-right teenagers over asylum seeker attacks
BERLIN: German police on Wednesday (May 21) arrested five teenagers accused of forming a far-right militant group called the "Last Wave of Defence" that targeted asylum seekers and plotted to undermine the government. The suspects, reportedly aged 14 to 18, were members or supporters of the "right-wing extremist terrorist organisation" founded in April last year, federal prosecutors said. Their goal was "to bring about the collapse of the democratic system in the Federal Republic of Germany through acts of violence", the prosecutors' office said in a statement. The juveniles saw themselves as defenders of the "German nation" and had allegedly planned "arson and bomb attacks on asylum seekers' homes and institutions on the political left". Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said it was "particularly shocking" that the suspects arrested were all "minors when the terrorist group was founded". "This is a warning sign and shows that right-wing extremist terrorism knows no age," Hubig said. Police launched raids on 13 properties nationwide and arrested the four alleged group members and one supporter. All had been minors over the age of criminal responsibility at the time of most of the crimes, prosecutors said. Two of the suspects, partially identified as Jerome M and Lenny M, were also accused of attempted murder and arson, prosecutors said. ARSON ATTACK The pair allegedly set fire to a cultural centre in the town of Altdoebern in the eastern region of Brandenburg in October. At the time, the building was occupied by several people, who escaped unscathed, prosecutors said. The centre was thought to have been targeted because it was seen as left-wing and its management had spoken out against right-wing extremism in the past, Die Welt daily has reported. A third member of the group, named as Ben-Maxim H, drafted a speech which was read by Lenny M in a video inciting others to carry out similar attacks. The police raids Wednesday also targeted properties linked to three other alleged group members who were already in custody. Two of those previously arrested allegedly smashed a window of an asylum seekers' shelter and hurled fireworks inside, but without sparking a fire, in Schmoelln in the eastern region of Thuringia in January. They also sprayed the building with Swastikas and slogans including "Foreigners Out", "Germany for the Germans" and "Nazi Territory", and made Nazi salutes outside the building. "RADICALISATION" Three group members had jointly planned to attack another asylum shelter in January and had procured two firework "bombs" to carry out the attack, prosecutors said. Previous arrests made by police however meant the supposed attack plan was never carried out. Germany has been on alert after a rise in politically motivated crimes, with the threat of far-right extremism growing in particular. Officials on Tuesday reported a 40-per cent surge last year in such offences, ranging from hate speech to acts of physical violence. In total, a record 84,172 politically motivated crimes were recorded in 2024, almost half of them motivated by far-right ideology. Presenting the report, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt voiced concern over the "fast-growing development ... of extreme right-wing youth movements". Federal criminal police chief Holger Muench said the rise reflected increased "polarisation and radicalisation in society" and showed that Germany's "democracy is under pressure".
