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‘Alarmingly high’ growth of anti-migrant crimes in Germany

A broken window photographed at the site of the attack in Ansbach, Germany, Tuesday July 26, 2016. In the most recent attack in Germany, a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 people. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP).
A broken window photographed at the site of the attack in Ansbach, Germany, Tuesday July 26, 2016. In the most recent attack in Germany, a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 people. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP).

BERLIN – Germany’s Interior Ministry says a new report showing more than 3,500 attacks in 2016 on migrants and their homes is “alarmingly high and cause for concern” but says authorities are prosecuting the crimes aggressively and the numbers are now falling.

READ MORE: German politician attacked with cake over position on migrants

Most of the crimes were things like vandalism to asylum-seeker homes, including far-right graffiti, threats and slander but the report also included more serious attacks like arson, bodily harm and attempted murder. It was compiled by the Interior Ministry with information from Germany’s 16 states.

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Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth says Monday “there was a very wide spectrum of crimes … every one is to be condemned.”

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Comparison figures for previous years haven’t been compiled but Dimroth said after 2016 the “trend is downward … which gives us a little bit of hope.”

 

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