The majority of the suspects involved in recent riots in Germany’s largest state by population, North Rhine-Westphalia, have foreign roots, according to data obtained from Germany’s Ministry of the Interior.
The data stems from a request from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) member, Markus Wagner, which Jungen Freiheit obtained. The data shows that 55.6 percent of the suspects do not have German citizenship.
In addition, many of the accused with a German passport have a name that suggests a migration background. Overall, 74.5 percent of the suspects are foreigners or Germans with foreign first names such as, for example, Ali, Hassan, and Mohamed.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the report refers to situations “caused by a group of people acting aggressively in which the number of people, their role or the status of individuals cannot be determined immediately at the first police intervention”.
On June 17, there was such a situation in Cologne when, during a police traffic stop, the passenger in a stopped vehicle suddenly hit a policeman in the face so hard that he required medical treatment. Around 150 onlookers, some of whom were acting aggressive, immediately gathered at the scene of the incident.
This group then temporarily prevented the injured policeman from being treated and disrupted the police operation in the area. Only with a large police response were officers able to bring the situation under control.
Many foreign names among the suspect Germans
According to the Interior Ministry, 87 Germans and 109 foreigners were among the 196 suspects involved in such incidents in the first half of 2020. Among the foreigners, Turks made up the largest group with 20 accused, followed by Syrians at 16.
However, many of the suspects listed as Germans appear have foreign roots, as in at least 37 cases, the suspects have foreign names.
Wagner blamed migration and integration policy for the crime of foreigners.
“Three-quarters of the suspects are foreigners or have a migration background. The connection to the failed migration and integration policy of the old parties is therefore unmistakable. Nevertheless, the causes, represented by lack of border protection, the failure to deport, and the refusal to integrate are not addressed.”
Overall, migrants are disproportionately represented in serious crimes such as murder, assault, and rape at the federal level in Germany, according to statistics from the German Criminal Federal Police (BKA) from 2019.
