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Every week tens of thousands of Germans take to the streets to demonstrate against restrictions and vaccination. Many protests are peaceful, but others explode into violence and experts are increasingly worried by the aggressive language and threats aimed at politicians and public figures online. The number of recorded politically motivated crimes rose to its highest level in a decade last year. Miro Dittrich, who researches right-wing extremism at the Centre for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy, says: "The big shift we've seen during the pandemic is that the more inherently violent ideas of overthrowing democracy which we've seen from the beginning turn more into concrete ideas". He goes on to say that the online exremism and threats may not translate into real life attacks, but that there is a community who agrees with the extreme ideas expressed on the boards and forums he researches. Photo: A protest against Convid restrictions in Dusseldorf, Germany, January 2022 Credit: Getty Images
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