Just four per cent of Germans think the hard left poses no threat to society, with an overwhelming near-six-in-ten saying it does, in research that comes days after serious left-wing riots over the conviction of a politically motivated hammer-attacker.
Pollster YouGov asked Germans “How high, if any, do you think the danger that left-wing extremists currently poses”. The answer was resoundingly that the hard-left does post a danger, with 59 per cent saying they believe it to be so.
Of those who believe the left poses a danger, 55 per cent say it presents a risk. The remaining 45 per cent think it poses a “very high risk”, reports German newspaper Die Welt. In terms of the whole cohort of the study, those groups make up 32 and 27 per cent respectively.
LEIPZIG, GERMANY – JUNE 03: Leftist demonstrators hurl cobblestones as they clash with police during “Day X” protests on June 3, 2023 in Leipzig, Germany. Protesters took to the streets in Leipzig despite a ban by authorities on their planned gathering to demand freedom for Lina E., who a Dresden court sentenced to five years and three months in prison for organizing and carrying out brutal assaults against neo-Nazis in Saxony and Thuringia between 2018 and 2020. The court handed down lesser sentences to three men associated with Lina E. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Of all respondents, 11 per cent had no opinion and just four per cent said “left-wing extremists” are not a threat at all, underlining the strength of feeling on the matter.
While the results are timely given the recent left-wing riots in the country over the conviction of a hard-left female activist found guilty of beating people she believed didn’t hold her politics with a hammer, the research also found — Welt notes — that Germans feel threatened by political extremism in general.
A majority felt threatened by both left and right-wing extremism, but most prevalent was concern about Islamism and Salafism, with 64 per cent saying they currently feel “personally threatened” by the religious ideologies. The research found those who have a family “migration background” feel less threatened by Islamism than those who didn’t have foreign roots.