Far-left crimes and violence have surged significantly in Germany, prompting authorities to commit more resources to combating political extremism from the left.
According to Interior Ministry figures obtained by the Bild newspaper, the number of leftist crimes committed in 2025 rose by 35 per cent to 13,490. Perhaps most concerningly, the number of violent crimes committed by the far-left increased by 43 per cent last year to 1,087 cases.
The paper reported that experts pin the number of far-left radicals in Germany at around 40,000 people, with over 10,000 who are believed to be violent. Targets often include critical infrastructure as they seek to undermine modernity itself in in a means-justify-the-ends bid to destroy capitalism.
In response to the surge in leftist violence, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the centre-right Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) said that “more left-wing extremist crimes mean more violence and more danger to our constitutional state.”
Minister Dobrindt added that the government will be “upgrading” the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) domestic political spy agency to better equip it to handle the increased threat from the extreme left, saying: “We need a clear stance against any form of political violence.”
This comes in contrast to the spy agency’s main brief, which has focused on the supposed threat posed by the far-right, including the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Last year, the BfV branded the poll-topping party as a “right-wing extremist” organisation, almost entirely based on political positions stated publicly, which were considered to be a threat to German democracy.
However, there has been a notable shift in focus in recent months following a spate of high-profile leftist terror attacks, including the suspected act of leftist sabotage on a critical Berlin power line in January that left hundreds of thousands in the German capital without power for five days during the dead of winter.
Despite the high-profile nature of the attack, which resulted in Berlin’s longest power cut since World War II, and a million-euro reward, authorities have yet to identify any suspects in the case.
There was a breakthrough last month in a separate act of suspected leftist sabotage against electrical pylons in Berlin, which also resulted in blackouts just months prior, with hundreds of police carrying out raids at 15 locations across the country, including a well-known anarchist library in Berlin.
The issue of leftist violence in Europe has also come under increased attention after the Trump administration designated multiple Antifa cells in Europe as terror groups, including Germany’s notorious “hammer gang”, which has allegedly carried out numerous attacks on right-wing groups with literal hammers.
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