The number of left-wing extremist crimes rose by over 100 per cent last year in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the state interior ministry in Düsseldorf, the capital of Germany’s most populous state, there were over 2,400 cases of leftist extremist crimes in 2025.
This was more than double the figure recorded in the year before, when 1,187 left-wing extremist crimes were logged, broadcaster NTV reported.
The North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry said that the number of leftist violent crimes rose from 86 to 153, while the number of property crimes jumped from 488 to 1,190.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the state reported that left-wing attacks on critical infrastructure were also on the rise last year, including attacks on power infrastructure, large industrial facilities, and railways, which experienced six attacks in 2025 compared to two in the previous year.
The authorities reported that often leftist extremist cells are using social media to attract young people to their cause by promoting their radical acts and a “lifestyle image”. The landscape is also becoming more diverse, ranging from actions taken by cells within political parties to those of small communist groups.
State Interior Minister Herbert Reul commented: “The acts are becoming more brutal, more professional, more personal.” He added that collateral damage in attacks is becoming more “accepted in the name of a supposedly higher goal,” but cautioned that security authorities have “all enemies of our democracy in their sights.”
While often downplayed in the legacy press and by establishment politicians, the subject of leftist terrorism has come to the fore in recent months, particularly in Germany.
Just last month, over 45,000 households and 2,200 commercial properties were plunged into darkness following a suspected act of leftist sabotage on a critical power line in the German capital of Berlin. The attack, which also affected city railways and hospitals, left some areas without power for up to five days during the frigid winter.
This represented the longest power cut in Berlin since World War II, breaking the previous record set just a few months prior. Despite the high-profile nature of the case, which included a €1 million ($1.2 million, £870,000) reward, authorities have yet to arrest any culprits.
The subject of far-left violence in Europe has been a particular focus of the Trump administration in the United States, which has designated multiple European Antifa cells as terrorist organisations, including Germany’s infamous “hammer gang”.
A German transgender member of the hammer gang was sentenced to eight years in prison in Hungary last month over a string of brutal attacks in Budapest in 2023. Despite having allegedly attacked members of the public who were merely perceived as right-wing, members of the far-left political class in Germany demanded that the Antifa radical be set free, casting him as a freedom fighter.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: [email protected]
Read the full article here