Germany registers the highest number of crimes against journalists in 2022

BERLIN, 13 March. (DPA/EP) –

Germany has registered in 2022 the highest number of crimes against journalists and media workers since they began to be officially counted in 2016.

The Criminal Police Information Service, which registers politically motivated crimes, has reported a total of 320 crimes, as reported by the German government after a question from the opposition.

The figures show that the number of crimes against media workers has multiplied by more than three in the last four years throughout the country, according to data obtained by the dpa agency.

According to the report, the 320 crimes include 46 violent crimes, 41 coercive and threatening crimes, 31 property damage crimes, and 27 hate speech crimes. The rest are crimes against the prohibition of assembly and other diverse crimes.

The state of Berlin was among the highest for the number of reported crimes against media workers.

In the demonstrations against the measures against the coronavirus, 64 crimes against reporters were registered, of which 15 were violent. However, the spokeswoman for the Die Linke (The Left) party, Petra Sitte, has declared to the newspaper ‘Die Welt’ that “radicalization and anti-press attitudes of certain groups will continue to be a problem” despite the disappearance of this type of protests, in reference to the demonstrations against the coronavirus.

Sitte, in addition, has called for “a global strategy to protect press freedom, continuous reports and better legal protection for media professionals in information legislation.”