© REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
A far-right protester wears a sweater that reads, "If you can't protect us - then we protect ourselves"
A far-right protester wears a sweater that reads, "If you can't protect us - then we protect ourselves"
Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, sounded the alarm over the rise of the underground far-right, according to Die Welt. An intelligence report seen by the paper calls for increased surveillance of so-called "preppers" - a loose network of ultra-nationalists who prepare for apocalyptic scenarios.
Those people are collecting firearms and other supplies in preparation for "a civil war" or "a feared collapse of public order" in Germany, the BfV revealed. The preppers movement, which first emerged in the US, has long been rooted in survivalism - which sees far-right militias making stockpiles of food, ammunition and medicine that they would use in the event of a doomsday scenario.
Separately, there is an alarming number of extremists who could plot attacks involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and small arms. Notably, many of those on the far-right were indoctrinated "a few months or years" ago, but were not known to the agency before joining extremist groups.
German ultra-nationalists usually radicalize through social media and right-wing chats, where the perceived spread of Islam and inflow of immigrants dominate most discussions, the BfV report said. However, far-right terrorist acts - involving IEDs, knives or arson attacks - remain poorly organized, as there are "blatant gaps between planning and reality."
Comment: The Vatican decries the dearth of media coverage of the border emergency. News agencies are reporting on the migrants, but perhaps The Vatican isn't happy that a more realistic assessment of the situation is now being presented: