Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – Mayors are still being raged on the Internet, MPs are being threatened and insulted. However, the number of these hate crimes against officials and elected officials in Baden-Württemberg has decreased for the most part of the past year for the first time in a long time. According to the current status, the Ministry of the Interior recorded a total of 220 cases in the first nine months of 2022, but three violent crimes were also recorded. In the entire year before, 502 crimes had become known, in the previous year there were 387. Final figures for the whole of 2022 are not yet available. Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) assumes a slightly downward trend.
According to the ministry, the reason for the interim increase in numbers could have been the consequences of the corona pandemic and the state and federal elections in 2021. Because most of the time it is about abuse and attempts to intimidate mayors, municipal committee members and public sector employees. Volunteers in the cities and communities, for example in the fire brigade and civil protection, also suffer from a lack of respect.
“Each incident is clearly one too many,” said Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl on the sidelines of a special meeting of the cabinet committee “Resolutely Against Hate and Hatred”, which was also attended by the city, municipal and district councils on Tuesday. However, the new figures show that the country is on the right track. “This spurs us on not to let up in our close cooperation with the municipal state associations,” said Strobl.
