Germany’s neo-Nazis join forces across Europe and US

FAR-RIGHT extremists in Germany are joining forces with like-minded groups across Europe and even the United States as they prepare to carry out more attacks, the country’s intelligence chief has warned.

Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Verfassungsschutz intelligence agency, said it had been forced to step up its efforts to foil plots by neo-Nazi and fascist groups following a surge in extremist violence in 2015.

“This is not just purely a German phenomenon,” he said. “The Right-extremist scene is networking on a European level, and in some cases, with connections in the United States.

“We have seen in a series of cases that there are numerous people … who are ready to do anything and who have joined forces to create Right-wing terrorist cells.”

He added: “We are trying to investigate these cells, if they exist, and to prevent any attacks.”

Verfassungsschutz’s annual report has revealed that cases of far-Right violent acts in Germany increased by 42 per cent to 1,408 in 2015.

The number of arson attacks on refugee centres rose to 75, compared to just five in the previous year.

It is feared that much of the violence is in reaction to the influx of more than one million refugees into Germany last year as part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “open-door” policy.

Public support for far-Right political parties in Germany is at a record high, with the anti-Islam Alternative for Deutschland (Afd) group surging in the polls. The anti-immigrant group Pegida has also enjoyed growing support.

In October, a police officer was shot dead by a member of the Reich Citizens, a Right-wing group that does not accept the fall of the German empire.