Report Shows Drop in Right-wing Extremism

Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily presents a report on the country's domestic security situation Monday which shows that membership of rightwing extremist parties in Germany has dropped. These parties lost a total of 3,600 members in 2003. The report is prepared by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, one arm of Germany's intelligence services responsible for the monitoring of politically motivated crimes. As in previous years, the threat from Islamic terrorism is the main point of concern. The report also indicates that the number of politically motivated crimes was down six percent in 2003 and that there were 1,743 crimes committed by foreigners in 2003, up from 845 the previous year. The increase was mainly due to the investigations surrounding the Islamic Caliphate organization in Cologne.