Germany plans crackdown on far-left militants after Berlin power grid attack

Germany plans crackdown on far-left militants after Berlin power grid attack

Germany's Response to Left-Wing Extremism

BERLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Germany will step up efforts to fight left-wing militants after activists claimed responsibility for an attack on a power station in January that caused the longest electricity blackout in Berlin since World War Two, the interior minister said.

Increased Funding for Investigations

"Our security agencies will be significantly reinforced in the fight against left-wing extremism," the minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said on Tuesday.

Legislative Changes in Security Measures

He added that 1 million euros was on offer for information leading to the perpetrators of the January attack, which was suspected to have been carried out by a far-left activist organisation called the Volcano group. The incident left 45,000 households without power in freezing temperatures.

Statistics on Left-Wing Crime

Germany's domestic intelligence agency will devote more staff to left-wing militancy, Dobrindt said, adding that new legislation is being prepared to expand the digital investigative powers of security authorities. The measures would cover automated data analysis, biometric facial recognition and the storage of IP addresses.

In its latest report, the domestic intelligence agency said left-wing motivated crime was up 38% in 2024 although the number of leftist violent crimes had fallen by 27%.

Dobrindt said the move, as well as a planned law to protect critical infrastructure, would not lead to a reduction in the fight against other forms of radicalism.

"We have had a lot of success with a right-wing extremism, Islamist terrorism .. But the focus has not been sufficiently on left-wing extremism and we see left-wing terrorism ... is making a strong comeback," he said.

(Reporting by Miranda MurrayWriting by Madeline Chambers, Editing by William Maclean)