There are now three far-right attacks in nine months in Germany. The threat has long been underestimated by the intelligence services, who assumed that it was only the work of isolated and clandestine groups. The attack on Hanau shows how real a danger it can strike anytime and anywhere. Nine people died in the attack, a racist killing claimed by the attacker in a video. The act caused a shock wave and an awareness in the country, which now fears a return of this far-right terrorism. The threat is taken very seriously by the authorities.
The number of far-right radicals has increased fivefold
After the attack on the synagogue in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) in October, the Federal Minister for the Interior had to recognize this: the threat is now greater than the Islamist threat. Since the creation of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, alternative for Germany) party in 2013, the number of radicalized people has increased fivefold. According to figures from information published in January, the identity nebula now has 32,000 members, 8,000 more than a year ago.
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And above all, the number of ultra-fanatic militants, ready to take action, is also increasing. These "white soldiers" feel they are carrying a mission. They can act at any time, as we saw on Wednesday evening in Hanau. Several former repentant neo-Nazis, who have become whistleblowers, speak of them as a "sleeping army", around 15,000 people, which it will be easy to mobilize the day that a large-scale action is carried out.
The "X day", as the extremists say, that of the seizure of power with very precise targets to be killed, political or media personalities for example, and attacks to be carried out jointly everywhere in Germany.