Germany’s domestic intelligence agency reported a significant increase in the extremist Salafist scene in Berlin, more than tripling its members since 2011, according to the Berlin-based Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Berlin’s Salafist extremist scene comprised some 950 people, said a situation report from domestic intelligence, known as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). Those considered “dangerous” – or classified as prone to commit an act of violence – have quadrupled since 2011, comprising 420 people.
At least half of the scene’s members are German, of which only a third are dual nationals. Russians represented the largest foreign national group of the extremist scene, according to the BfV report.