BERLIN, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Germany's 2006 may be a record year for neo-Nazi crimes that have surged in recent months.
The German government reported 10,154 far-right crimes from January through the end of October 2006, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported Thursday. The number exceeds the intermediate results of previous years by 20 percent and is the highest since 2001, when the German government reformed criminal codes to include hate crimes.
The German far-left Left Party had asked the government to submit the numbers.
When it comes to neo-Nazi violent crimes, the submitted figure (593) is greater than each of the single year totals from 2001 until 2005.
German lawmakers and Jewish officials said the rise in right-wing violence was alarming, blaming the main parties' inability to defeat neo-Nazism and the lack of funding for anti-extremist social groups.
