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’
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“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.
Venezuela has accused the US of “piracy” after an oil tanker was seized off the country’s coast.
Donald Trump announced the operation had taken place during a meeting of business leaders at the White House, telling reporters: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a video of the operation, revealing the FBI, Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, and Department of Defence were involved.
She said the US forces “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”.
Venezuela’s government said the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
Pics: X/@AGPamBondi
Ms Bondi said the seized vessel – believed to be a tanker named Skipper – has been sanctioned by the US for many years “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations”.
She did not name the vessel, what flag it sailed under, or exactly where the incident took place.
UK maritime risk management group Vanguard said that the tanker Skipper – which the US sanctioned for alleged involvement in Iranian oil trading under the name Adisa – was believed to be the target.
Trump offers ominous commentary
Without giving additional information on the operation, Mr Trump added during the White House meeting that “other things are happening”.
Later, Mr Trump said the tanker was “seized for a very good reason”, and when asked what will happen to the oil on board, he added: “Well, we keep it, I suppose.”
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US seizing oil tanker a ‘significant escalation’
How did we get here?
It marks another escalation from the US after months of pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The White House accuses Mr Maduro of presiding over a narcotrafficking operation in Venezuela, which he denies.
The US has escalated military deployments against the Latin American country over the last few months, with the president suggesting American forces could launch a land attack.
Speaking to Politico on Tuesday, Mr Trump declined to comment on whether US troops would enter Venezuela, but warned Mr Maduro’s “days are numbered”.
On 2 September, the White House posted on X that it had conducted a strike against so-called “narcoterrorists” shipping fentanyl to the US, without providing direct evidence of the alleged crime.
Sky News has verified that in the past four months, 23 boats have been targeted in 22 strikes, killing 87 people.
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Venezuela: ‘It has always been about our oil’
The Maduro government describes America’s actions as a grab for Venezuela’s oil reserves, which are among the biggest in the world.
At a rally before a ruling-party-organised demonstration in Caracas on Wednesday, Mr Maduro did not address the seizure but told supporters Venezuela is “prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary”.
Flanked by senior officials, he said that only the ruling party can “guarantee peace, stability, and the harmonious development of Venezuela, South America and the Caribbean”.
His government did issue a statement, accusing the US of “piracy” and “imperial abuses”.
Of the US campaign, it said: “It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”
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Geoffrey Corn, director of the Centre for Military Law at Texas Tech University, told Sky’s Mark Austin on The World that Mr Trump’s remarks on land strikes “ostensibly” refer to drug cartel members.
Formerly a senior adviser to the US army on warfare law, Mr Corn added: “That could very easily provide the pretext for some confrontation between Venezuelan armed forces and US armed forces.
“And then that would open the door to a broader campaign to basically negate the power of the Venezuelan military.”
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British soldier killed in Ukraine named – as Trump exchanges ‘strong words’ with Kyiv’s allies
Tributes have been paid to a British soldier killed in Ukraine, as the country’s allies prepare for talks before a crucial potential meeting with Donald Trump.
Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, has been named as the paratrooper who died in a “tragic accident” on Tuesday while observing Ukrainian forces testing a new defensive capability away from the frontline.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said he joined the army in November 2015 and was “an exceptional soldier”.
Defence Secretary John Healey said he “served our country with distinction and professionalism” and “will be very deeply missed”.
He added: “George’s tragic death reminds us of the courage and commitment with which our outstanding armed forces serve every day to protect our nation.”
Coalition of the willing to meet
Britain has been one of Ukraine’s biggest backers since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and that support will again come into play on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will hold a virtual meeting with members of the self-styled coalition of the willing, after reports Kyiv has handed its revised peace deal proposal to US negotiators.
Mr Zelenskyy said the revised proposal has 20 points, after some “obvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed”.
The original US draft proposal had 28 points, and was seen as favouring Russia.
Read more: Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
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Trump could ‘pull plug’ on Ukraine
Zelenskyy hopeful of progress
Ukraine has sought to change some key clauses, such as territorial issues and security guarantees, following talks with US and European negotiators.
In his nightly address on Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy said his country is also drafting two additional documents: the first regarding US security guarantees and the second on the economy and reconstruction.
He said Kyiv’s peace delegation held a “productive conversation” with the US earlier, and “discussed key issues for recovery, various mechanisms, and visions of reconstruction”.
He also revealed he discussed the possibility of holding elections with Ukraine’s parliament, but that holding elections under martial law was not easy.
Trump has ‘strong words’ with European leaders
It comes after Donald Trump used an interview with Politico to accuse Mr Zelenskyy of “using war” to avoid holding elections. The US president also claimed his Ukrainian counterpart had not read the original 28-point peace plan.
Mr Trump held a call with coalition of the willing members Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, ad Friedrich Merz on Wednesday, and said some “pretty strong words” were exchanged.
Earlier this week, he called Europe’s leaders “weak” and criticising them for failing to end the war.
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Why is Trump attacking European allies?
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Mr Trump said Mr Zelenskyy was keen on a meeting involving him and European leaders this weekend, but warned his attendance will be “based on what they come back with”.
Today’s virtual meeting comes days after Sir Keir hosted Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Macron and Mr Merz in Downing Street.
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Zelenskyy meets leaders in Downing Street
The period of intense diplomacy comes as the fighting continues on the ground in Ukraine.
Its military says it’s still fending off a Russian assault launched on the key city of Pokrovsk, while energy infrastructure has been targeted by drones in southern Odesa.
World
Maria Corina Machado missed the ceremony, but the Nobel Peace Prize winner is heading to Oslo after ‘extraordinary’ day
The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado didn’t make it to Oslo in time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person, in an extraordinary day shrouded in uncertainty over her whereabouts.
Machado isn’t the first Nobel Laureate unable to attend, but her journey to Oslo was unprecedented in the history of the prestigious prize.
Her departure from Venezuela, carried out amid heavy secrecy and probably with covert US help, was fraught with risk, but on Wednesday she was en route to Norway, where she is expected to land late in the evening.
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Sister’s ‘mixed emotions’ over Nobel prize
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro joins supporters marching to commemorate the Battle of Santa Ines. Pic: Reuters
Reports suggested she first travelled by boat to the Caribbean island of Curaçao before getting a private flight via the US. Two US F-16 jets were tracked in the skies close to Curaçao late Tuesday night.
In a phone call with members of the Nobel Institute, released just after she took off, Machado said she was “very sad” not to make it in person but “as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and children.”
In her absence, her daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado, whom she hasn’t seen for almost two years, collected the award in Oslo City Hall and delivered the speech her mother wrote.
She spoke about 2,500 people who had been “kidnapped, disappeared or tortured” under Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s government and slammed the corruption that has brought Venezuela, once one of the world’s richest nations, to its knees.
“This prize carries profound meaning; it reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace.
“More than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey – that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom.”
Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at an anti-Maduro protest in January. File pic: AP
Corina Perez de Machado, mother of Maria Corina Machado, at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo. Pic: Reuters
To a standing ovation from an audience that included several South American leaders, Machado thanked the people of Norway and sent a message to her fellow countrymen and women, many of whom had travelled to Oslo from their homes outside Venezuela.
“Venezuela will breathe again,” her daughter read.
“We will open prison doors and watch thousands who were unjustly detained step into the warm sun, embraced at last by those who never stopped fighting for them.
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Are US strikes on Venezuela about drugs or oil?
“We will see our grandmothers settle children on their laps to tell them stories not of distant forefathers but of their own parents’ courage.
“We will hug again. Fall in love again. Hear our streets fill with laughter and music. All the simple joys the world takes for granted will be ours.”
Ms Machado is the leader of a grassroots political movement fighting for democracy in Venezuela.
She was banned by Nicolas Maduro from running for election, so she rallied a campaign behind a little-known veteran diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.
She organised and trained more than a million volunteers to monitor elections in 2024 and collect data.
Those results, smuggled out of the country, were verified by independent experts and confirmed a landslide win for Gonzalez and Machado’s party.
Maduro refused to recognise the result and detained thousands of opponents.
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Protests have failed to dislodge him, although US president Donald Trump has stationed a massive naval force off the coast and has warned the Venezuelan leader his “days are numbered”.
Mr Trump had lobbied publicly to win this year’s Nobel Prize himself, but rang Machado to congratulate her. Some members of Trump’s administration had threatened the Nobel committee if he didn’t win.
Edmundo Gonzalez, who was at the ceremony in Oslo, has since gone into exile in Spain, but Machado has remained in Venezuela, spending most of her time in hiding.
Her mother, sister and children have also travelled to Oslo to be reunited with her.
The decision to travel to Norway is fraught with risk.
Having successfully left the country, she faces a dangerous journey home again.
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