Left-wing extremists in NRW record sharp increase in violent crimes

Preliminary police data indicates a significant increase in the number of violent crimes committed by left-wing extremist circles in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2025. Specific numbers and a detailed analysis of the current situation will be presented on Wednesday at 10:00 in Düsseldorf by the state's interior minister, Herbert Reul of the CDU, together with the head of the local Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jürgen Kayser. This will be the presentation of the latest security situation report concerning left-wing extremism. Left-wing extremism in Germany has its roots in the student movements of the 1960s and 1970s, from which groups like the Red Army Faction emerged. After German reunification, some groups shifted their activities to the territory of the former GDR. In recent decades, an evolution in the methods of these circles has been observed, including an increased online presence.According to information from the German Press Agency (dpa), which obtained preliminary figures, there was a clear increase in the number of such crimes last year compared to 2024. The Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia confirms that the aim of these groups' activities is to strive for a „herrschaftsfreie” society – a society without power structures, based on socialist, communist, or anarchist ideals. The new report is also said to indicate a change in the methods of contemporary left-wing extremists. As reported by the n-tv portal, these groups now operate in a more subtle way and with greater „digital finesse” than in the past, which forces the authorities to adopt a new approach to assessing threats to the state's internal security. „In NRW gehen Linksextremisten heutzutage subtiler und mit mehr digitaler Raffinesse vor.” (In NRW, left-wing extremists nowadays proceed more subtly and with more digital sophistication.) — n-tvThe report presentation will take place in the state capital, Düsseldorf. Announcements of the press conference appeared in several German media outlets on February 24th and 25th. All reports are based on preliminary police data and announcements by officials, which means the full picture of the situation, along with precise statistics and trend analysis, will only be known after Wednesday's briefing. The lack of specific numbers in the reports so far makes it impossible to assess the scale of the phenomenon and compare it with the level of violence from other extremist currents, such as right-wing extremism or Islamism. This event fits into the broader debate about the effectiveness of combating extremism in Germany, especially in the context of intensified actions by the authorities following past attacks. North Rhine-Westphalia, as Germany's most populous region, constitutes a particularly important area for monitoring such phenomena.