How the far-right has grown into the greatest extremist threat to Germany’s democracy
“We must never underestimate the murderous danger posed by right-wing extremism and right-wing terrorism.” That’s the warning from Germany’s interior minister as new figures show a rise in violent extremists in the country.
A report today by intelligence officials estimates 14,000 violent right-wing extremists are living in Germany.
It labels the far-right the biggest extremist danger inside Europe’s largest economic power.
Right-wing extremism continues to be “the greatest extremist threat to the basic democratic order,” interior minister, Nancy Faeser told journalists as she unveiled the report alongside domestic spy chief, Thomas Haldenwang, in Berlin.
Violence from right and left-wing extremists, Islamist terrorists and foreign extremists were among the dangers assessed.
The report found the number of right-wing extremists has risen to 38,800 in 2022, from 33,900 the previous year.
Just over a third of them are classed as “violence-oriented”.
Violent crimes committed by this group are also up 7.5% and include two attempted homicides.
“Extremists use crises to gain a foothold in the middle classes, sharing conspiracy myths, disinformation and propaganda,” says Mr Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
“It is worrying that the actors are becoming increasingly violence-orientated and in some cases younger.”
Victims of far-right intimidation agree.
‘I regularly received life-threatening emails’
Suleman Malik, a spokesperson from the Ahmadiyya Islamic community in Erfurt, East Germany, shows me the mosque they have been trying to build for around a decade.
He says he has received death threats and contractors have been scared away by extremists who warned them not to work with Muslims.
On one occasion, he says he arrived at the construction site to find a pig’s head on a stake and pork scattered around.
“We were attacked, I regularly received life-threatening emails….there were letters. There were attacks on the site. They just wanted to harm us,” he says.
While right-wing extremists come from a mixture of groups, there’s a new focus on the so-called “Reichsburger” after authorities foiled a coup plot planning to violently overthrow the government.
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Twenty-five people were arrested in raids in December accused of plotting to storm the German parliament and take control.
“Reichsburger”, which translates to citizen of the Reich, are defined by spy agencies as conspiracy theorists who don’t recognise the legitimacy of the post-war German state.
In 2022, the number of extremist crimes attributed to “Reichsburger” and “Selbstverwalter” (“self-governing citizens”) increased by 34.3%, with violent offences up 55.4% including two attempted homicides.
In total, it’s believed 23,000 “Reichsburger” live in Germany as part of different organisations.
The ‘King’ who wants to overthrow the government
Around two hours’ drive from Berlin is the headquarters of the “Kingdom of Germany”, one of the groups being monitored.
A sign on the fence reading ‘Kingdom of Germany’
Set up around a decade ago, the “Kingdom” is a self-proclaimed independent state with its own self-appointed king.
On the day I arrive to interview King Peter I, I’m given a visa to allow me to cross the invisible border.
A charismatic figure with a long brown ponytail, King Peter confirms I should call him “Your Majesty”.
He explains that the group has their own IDs, passports, banking system and currency. He shows me the constitution which the 5,500 members live by bound in a neat cream-coloured book.
While King Peter does not class his followers as “Reichsburger”, he is clear that they do not recognise the elected government.
“That is the goal, to completely take over the power of government in Germany, so to speak,” he says.
“But only if the people want it. If they don’t want it, then let them keep what they seem to be happy with.”
King Peter likes to be called ‘Your Majesty’
‘It could have led to a bloodbath’
As the kingdom’s membership expands, their efforts to buy more land around Germany has also caught the attention of the authorities.
While some critics accuse them of trying to infiltrate society, they were not part of the group arrested in December and King Peter rejects the idea anyone in the Kingdom would support the use of violence.
“Are you a threat?” I ask. He says they’re not but adds “We are perhaps a threat to the system, because we want to create the common good, because we want to create freedom…and we question the instruments of domination that we have today…we question this legal system of the Federal Republic because it is a system of domination and not a system of freedom.”
While “Reichsburger” groups have often been dismissed as crackpots, December’s failed coup plot shows that they are a danger to be taken seriously and a major concern for the domestic spy chief.
Around 10% (2300) are believed to be violent.
“The Reichsburger plot in December 2022 could have led to a bloodbath at the Bundestag,” says Nicholas Potter, a journalist and researcher at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation in Berlin which monitors right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism.
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The constitution of the ‘Kingdom of Germany’
Far-right party’s popularity soars
“The reality shows that the Reichsburger ideology is ultra-nationalist, antisemitic and driven by far-right conspiracy myths – and that it frequently results in violence, shootouts with authorities, or recently, plots to kidnap ministers or storm the Bundestag.”
But it’s not just fringe groups being watched.
The far-right party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) has 78 seats in parliament and is soaring in popularity.
According to a recent poll by German newspaper BILD, the AFD has become the second strongest political force in Germany together with the ruling Social Democrats.
It found 19.5% of respondents support the party and that 28.5% of Germans could imagine voting for them.
According to domestic intelligence chief, Thomas Haldenwang, his office will take a closer look at the AfD in 2023 because of a progressive radicalisation with more than 10,000 members classed as right-wing extremists.
Passports of the Kingdom of Germany
The party is now under surveillance as a “suspected threat” because of their far-right ideology while their youth organisation, the “Junge Alternative” (“Young Alternative”), was classified as a right-wing extremist group at the end of April 2023.
Both reject the allegations.
“The surge in support for the AfD is highly alarming,” Mr Potter says. “Since it initially entered the Bundestag in 2017, the party has continued to veer to the hard right, with its comparatively more moderate members leaving.
“The crises of previous years, from the COVID pandemic to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crises, have given the AfD new opportunities to play on fear and spread hate.”
Currency and a savings book of the Kingdom of Germany
‘We are the opposite of dangerous’
At a rally in Erfurt, Bjorn Hocke, the AfD’s regional leader in Thuringia and influential figure on the party’s hard right disagrees.
Mr Hocke has recently been charged over his alleged use of the Nazis’ SA stormtrooper slogan in a speech in 2021.
He denies he and his party are a risk to security in Germany.
“We are the opposite of dangerous, and we do not divide society…. We want to preserve Germany, that is our mission,” Mr Hocke says. “The other parties want to more or less overcome Germany, to abolish it, and we don’t want that. And that is a normal reaction of a people that wants to have a future.”
But opponents are increasingly concerned by their growing popularity among the middle classes.
Around the corner from the AfD rally, left-wing supporters have launched a counter protest.
Bjorn Hocke of the Alternative for Germany party
They are holding up signs and banners reading “Against Neo-Nazis” or “No room for fascists”.
A group of women calling themselves “Grannies against the Right” are holding placards saying “Bjorn Hocke is a Nazi”.
Loki, a left-wing activist, says right-wing ideology has divided her family.
Her relationship with her father has broken down. She believes the rise of the right is splitting her country in two.
“We have to take action now, we have to defend democracy here”, she says, beginning to cry.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died aged 41.
In a statement to Sky’s US partner network NBC News on Friday, her family said she took her own life in Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years.
“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said.
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Ms Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, saying Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.
In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.
Prince Andrew has denied all claims of wrongdoing. File pic: Reuters
‘An incredible champion’
Sigrid McCawley, Ms Giuffre’s attorney, told NBC News that she “was much more than a client to me; she was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims”.
“Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring,” she said. “The world has lost an amazing human being today.”
“Rest in peace, my sweet angel,” she added.
Dini von Mueffling, Giuffre’s representative, also told the outlet: “Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know.
“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims. She adored her children and many animals.
“She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
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Ms Giuffre said at the end of March she had four days to live after a car accident, posting on social media that “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure”. She was discharged from hospital eight days later.
Raised mainly in Florida, she said she was abused by a family friend early in life, which led to her living on the streets at times as a teenager.
She said that in 2000, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ms Giuffre said Maxwell then introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, and said she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.
‘I am now a survivor’
After meeting her husband in 2002, while taking massage training in Thailand at what she said was Epstein’s behest, she moved to Australia and had a family.
She founded the sex trafficking victims’ advocacy charity SOAR in 2015, and is quoted on its website as saying: “I do this for victims everywhere.
“I am no longer the young and vulnerable girl who could be bullied. I am now a survivor, and nobody can ever take that away from me.”
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
World
Fighter jets, a naval destroyer and guns on show: The ‘unprecedented’ security operation for Pope’s funeral
As the line of mourners moves slowly along behind him, Ciriaco Sarnelli peers at me from beneath the immaculate brim of his cap.
The military police chief looks, by any standards, magnificent – shoulders back and proudly wearing the black uniform of the Carabinieri.
“Our history goes back more than 200 years,” he says. “We remember our past, and our place. The only people with black uniforms are the priests, the judges and the Carabinieri.”
He leaves the rest unsaid – the Carabinieri sit at the heart of Italian cultural life.
Ciriaco Sarnelli, Carabinieri military police chief
Pope latest: Security ramping up ahead of funeral
Once, they defended the borders of a young nation. Now, they have a new challenge that has its own weighty burden – to keep St Peter’s Square safe during the funeral of Pope Francis.
This is no easy task. Hundreds of thousands will descend upon the Vatican for the event.
Many of the world’s best-known politicians and dignitaries will be welcomed into St Peter’s Basilica.
Inside will be Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Prince William and dozens upon dozens of other dignitaries.
Outside will be the Carabinieri.
They won’t be alone – there are thousands of other police officers due to be assigned to protect the event – but the Carabinieri are affiliated to the military; the most highly-trained officers on duty.
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A member of the security personnel wields an anti-drone gun for the Pope’s funeral
“This is an extraordinary operation,” says Sarnelli, as we look out over the crowd. “So we have employed some special units that belong to Carabinieri – the bomb squad, a dogs unit, snipers and helicopters. We want to assure the people who are arriving here that they can take part in this event in the best way, in a secure way.”
He says they are ready for “common crimes” – like pickpockets in the crowd – but also “the biggest, terrifying events”.
He says there is “excellent coordination” with police forces from other countries.
Around him, his officers are smiling, chatting to tourists and Romans alike.
The security here is overt but friendly, even if I’m told there are also plenty of plain-clothed officers mingling within the crowd.
Guns and grins both on show.
A police helicopter circles above. In the port of Rome, a naval destroyer has been primed for action; there are fighter jets ready to take off.
You can watch full coverage of the funeral live on Sky News on Saturday
Huge crowds have come from around the world to see the Pope’s body
If the impression is relaxed, the reality is different. The classic swan.
All the strands are pulled together from one place and, what’s more, it offers a perfect view of Vatican City.
From where I’m standing, I can see the front of St Peter’s Basilica, the side, and the roads around it. I can see the crowds coming in, and the crowds going out.
And I can see an anxious policeman drumming his fingers.
But we are not in St Peter’s and not even in the Vatican.
This is the high-security control room on the fifth floor of Rome’s police headquarters.
And from here, you can see everything.
The control room from where security officials can see across the Italian capital
An array of screens are in front of us and, watching them, men and women, huddled over screens and all wearing contrasting uniforms.
Some are military, some national police, some wear the clothes of firefighters. A few are in plain clothes and there is even a man wearing the badge of the prison officers’ service.
This centre is a hub for collaboration and decision-making and it brings together every service that is involved in ensuring the safety and security of the funeral.
There is a Carabinieri officer here, as well as the Guardia di Finanza national police and the Roman force. The government’s secret intelligence service is represented here, too.
Elisabetta Accardo is from Rome’s police department. We talk against the gentle hubbub in the control room, colleagues pointing at screens and agreeing plans.
Elisabetta Accardo, Rome Police control room spokeswoman
I ask when Italy last had to deal with a security operation on this scale, and she laughs. “Hundreds of years,” she says.
“It is unprecedented. The level of security is at the maximum.” She describes the plan as “structured three-dimensional security”.
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It is a plan that has been long in the making, but which has been reshaped over the past few days to react to the whims of the Pope’s final wishes.
It is, after all, more than a century since a pope was buried outside the walls of the Vatican.
You get the impression that the people designing the security plan could rather have done without having to add an hour-long procession through Rome into the plan.
But so be it.
By Saturday night, it will be done. Rome can start to get back to normal; the foreign leaders will be on their way home.
And the Rome police will breathe just a little bit easier.
World
Kremlin blames Ukraine for car bomb killing of Russian general near Moscow – as Trump envoy meets Putin
The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for a car bomb that killed a Russian general near Moscow hours before Donald Trump’s envoy was due to meet Vladimir Putin in the capital.
The death of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik is the second such fatal attack on a top Russian military officer in four months.
Russia’s top criminal investigation agency said he was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside the capital.
Follow the latest updates on the Ukraine war
Yaroslav Moskalik. Pic: Russian Ministry of Defence
Moskalik was a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces.
“The Kyiv regime once again simply shows its true nature. The Kyiv regime continues to be involved in terrorist activity on the territory of our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
He didn’t offer any evidence.
“It shows once again that, despite the peace talks, we must be on guard and understand the nature of this regime.”
Ukraine has not responded to the killing.
Investigators work at the scene where Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik was killed. Pic: AP
Investigative committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said the explosive device was rigged with shrapnel, adding that investigators were at the scene.
Videos showed a vehicle burning in the courtyard of an apartment building and a body covered in a sheet could be seen on the pavement nearby.
It comes after Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed in December when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office.
Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the killing of Kirillov, and Ukraine’s security agency acknowledged that it was behind that attack.
Kirillov was the chief of Russia’s radiation, biological and chemical protection forces, the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemy’s use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment.
His assistant also died in the attack.
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Talks bring Russia and US ‘closer together’
Friday’s bombing came as Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Mr Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine.
The talks allowed Russia and the United States to “further bring their positions closer together” on “a number of international issues”, a Kremlin aide said.
The two sides discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine”, Yuri Ushakov said.
The talks in Moscow lasted for three hours and were “constructive and useful”, he added.
Speaking on a flight to Italy for the Pope’s funeral, the US president said he hadn’t been fully briefed on Mr Witkoff and Mr Putin’s meeting – but added it was a “pretty good meeting”.
The meeting was their fourth encounter since February.
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
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