German left-wing extremists compete with each other on the Internet in scoring the most points for attacks on the police and other radical actions.
“Their points system, which evaluates police assaults, arson or property destruction, decides who will win the Riot Award,” wrote the Focus weekly, referring to an unnamed high-ranking member of the Hamburg section of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
For setting a car on fire, left-wing radicals get 120 points, while 170 points are credited for pouring feces on police, and 200 are awarded for “freeing a detainee” in street battles.
The highest score of 500 points is awarded for occupying a forest, which occurred last year when protesters opposing the construction of the A49 motorway in Hesse occupied the Dannenröder Wald forest, part of which was planned to be cut down. Protesters built barricades and makeshift shelters, and last November, they fought with the police. Leftists evaluate that the protesters were so determined and ruthless in their resistance tothe police that it earned them the Riot Award for 2020, according to Czech news portal Novinky.
Second place went to street fighters from Leipzig, who have been fighting with law enforcement for several years during mostly night riots. The following places went to anarchists from Berlin and Hamburg.
BfV admits that it knows too little about the Riot Award. For example, it is aware that the trophy was first awarded in 2015, but BfV has no idea who is behind the competition.
Klaus Schroeder, 71, a professor at the Freie Univerisität (Free University) of Berlin has heaped crticism on the point-based game.
“The group of left-wing perpetrators obviously benefits from being tolerated by the political mainstream that much rather target those who protest against epidemiological measures or deny Covid-19,” he warned.
During his lectures, he said he is repeatedly surprised by the lack of and superficiality of people’s knowledge about left-wing extremists.
Title image: Police officers stand in front of a fire set up by demonstrators during a May Day rally in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
