German police have arrested five teenagers over suspicions they were planning to carry out violent attacks on migrants and left-wingers. The arrests come as the German Federal Criminal Police Office released data showing that "politically motivated crimes" rose by 40 percent in 2024.
Five teenage suspects linked to an extremist group calling itself "Last Wave of Defense" ("Letzte Verteidigungswelle, L.V.W.") have been arrested in Germany. Prosecutors say they planned on carrying out arson and explosive attacks on homes for asylum seekers as well as buildings used by left-wing groups.
"Their aim is to bring about the collapse of the democratic system in the Federal Republic of Germany through acts of violence, primarily against migrants and political opponents," prosecutors said in a statement on May 21.
According to the statement from the German Prosecution Service (Generalbundesanwalt) four of the arrested suspects are alleged to have been members of the group and one is accused of being their supporter. All five are described as German citizens.
Arrests across Germany
The arrests took place in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the areas of Rostock and Wismar, on the Baltic coast, as well as in Brandenburg and the western German state of Hessen.
At the same time, stated the press release, German authorities carried out searches for 13 properties and involved three more German citizens who were also arrested for further inquiries.
Some of those arrested are being investigated for attempted murder as a result of arson and damage to property. Others are arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to attempted murder.
One of the cases being investigated in connection with the group of teenagers was a fire in a culture house in the small village of Altdöbern. Several people were living in the building at the time of the fire in October 2024, but no one was hurt. Damages to the property amounted to around 500,000 euros.
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Investigation into various crimes
In the early hours of the morning on January 5 this year, another two of those arrested are suspected of trying to damage a property housing asylum seekers in Schmölln. A window was broken at the property and then the suspects are believed to have tried to set off a firework battery inside the building, that would cause a fire. However, they didn’t manage to set fire to the building, but while they were at the property, the suspects are accused of having sprayed graffiti on the walls, including their group’s sign L.V.W. and "Foreigners out" as well as "Germany for Germans" and "This is a National Socialist (NAZI) zone." They also painted swastikas on the wall as well as "victory runes" (that were used in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as by the Nazis.) The suspects are also reported to have made "Hitler salutes" at the property.
Also in January, the suspects are accused of plotting another fire at an asylum seeker’s home in Senftenberg. One of the suspects is accused of having gone to the neighboring Czech Republic to buy "bullet bombs" (Kugelbombe, a type of bomb that is banned in Germany and shoots lots of things off it in different directions that can cause severe damage to people and property).
220 police officers and investigators took part in the operations across Germany. The suspects were brought before the Federal Court of Justice on May 21, where it will be decided on the details of their pre-trial detention.
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Increase in politically motivated crimes in Germany
The arrests took place a day after Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt –BKA) recorded a 40.2 percent increase in the number of politically motivated crimes that were carried out in Germany in 2024. The increase represents the strongest percentual increase since Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) began recording politically motivated crimes in the year 2001.
In the last ten years, stated the BKA in a press release published on May 20, the number of cases of politically motivated crimes has more than doubled. The report broke down the crimes into certain themes to look in more detail at both the perpetrators and the victims of these crimes.
Politically motivated crimes include spreading political propaganda, damage to property, defamation and insults, hate crimes, coercion, threats and contravening the large gathering laws without permission or registration.
Crimes defined as having a "right-wing extremist motive" rose by 47.8 percent. A large part of this increase was because of an increase in so-called "propaganda crimes," for instance, painting graffiti or slogans, or images against certain groups of people. Right-wing extremist violent crimes also increased by 17.2 percent in 2024.
Crimes defined as having a "left-wing extremist motive" also caused problems for the German authorities, added the press release. Violence and damage to property cost the German authorities "millions."
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Middle East conflicts thought to be one factor increasing incidence of crime
Hate crimes increased too. Many of these "hate crimes" were classed as "anti-Semitic." Last year, 6,236 antisemitic crimes were registered.
The BKA believes that conflict in the Middle East region may have partly accounted for an increase in politically motivated crimes. 7,328 crimes were registered as being linked to that conflict, an increase of 67.7 percent.
There were several big regional elections, many of them in eastern Germany during 2024, and these also accounted for 11,788 politically motivated crimes.
Crimes registered as being linked to "foreign ideologies" or "religious ideologies" also rose during 2024.
Many of the crimes classified as "hate crimes" were directed at people or groups often because of their nationality, ethnicity, skin color or gender, sexual orientation, or religion. More than two-thirds of these crimes had a right-wing extremist motive, stated the BKA.
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Islamist terror
Among crimes classed as antisemitic, the number carried out because of "foreign ideologies" increased by 63.6 percent to around 1,940 registered cases.
Conflicts in the Middle East were also mentioned in the report in relation to the rise in the number of politically motivated crimes carried out by Islamist groups. The BKA’s report pointed out that Hamas’ terror attack on Israel and the resulting invasion of Gaza by Israeli military forces were being instrumentalized by many different groups, including Islamist groups.
Germany, stated the report, remains a focus of Islamistic terror. 452 Islamist crimes were recorded as having taken place in Germany over the course of 2024 and up to April 29, 2025, including several big fatal attacks in the German cities of Mannheim, Solingen and Berlin.
Politically motivated violent crimes also registered a rise in 2024 of 15.33 percent, with crimes with their motive registered as "foreign ideologies" up by 98.57 percent.