Reality Contradicts The 'Acceptable Narrative' in Germany

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It's almost unanimous in western countries that right-wing advocates are the greatest danger to modern society. The stupidity of that 'acceptable narrative' should be obvious when you realize that almost all terrorism is perpetrated by Muslims; that crime rates in Europe have skyrocketed because of Muslim migrants; that there are dozens of, if not hundreds of No-Go Zones in Europe, all occupied by Muslims.

These statements are sufficient to explain a rise in right-wing activism, and yet, we see in Berlin that most danger comes from the far-left. 60 police officers injured in one day exceeds both Muslim and far-right damage by a considerable margin.

It's time to drop the 'acceptable narrative' in favour of the truth!

Squatters and left-wing radicals clash with German police in Berlin,

60 officers injured

16 Jun, 2021 19:36

Police officers stand near extinguished barricades at Rigaer Street in Berlin, Germany, on June 16, 2021.

©  Reuters / Axel Schmidt

A routine fire inspection has led to massive riots in the German capital as left-wing radicals protested a fire inspector’s visit to a Berlin squat. At least 60 police officers have been injured in the violent confrontation.

Barricades have been burning on the streets of Berlin’s Friedrichshain neighborhood on Wednesday. Squatters, left-wing radicals and their sympathizers erected them from rubbish, bicycles and barbed wire to block the authorities from accessing a house on one of the local streets.

Known as one of the most popular get-together locations among German left-wing radicals, the ill-fated house on the Rigaer Strasse had been occupied by squatters for a year until they were evicted in a massive police operation back in 2016. Since that time, however, it has been apparently occupied again.

Its residents, some of them without rental agreements, have recently even filed a complaint with a local court, challenging the decision of the building’s owner and the local authorities to send a fire inspector into the house. The complaint was rejected by the court which cited a public interest in mitigating the potential risks of fire in the building.

The squatters and the radicals were apparently not ready to give up so easily. Some started pelting the police with bottles and stones as law enforcement officers sought to breach the barricades.

The situation escalated further and the area started to look like an active combat zone. A helicopter was barraging amid the billows of black smoke clouding the skies. Some witnesses reported dozens of loud bangs.

Footage published by the Ruptly video news agency showed the police trying to break one of the barricades with an armored vehicle and using water cannons to extinguish the flames. Berlin’s “emergency services and fire fighters were not let through,” the police said in a statement on Twitter, adding that they were pelted with stones, including from the roofs of nearby buildings.

At least 60 police officers were injured in clashes, mostly by stones and bottles thrown by the rioters, a police spokeswoman, Anja Dierschke, told the Berliner Zeitung. The police also said that around 200 masked rioters clashed with police before retreating to nearby houses. Only one person has been arrested so far. A police team also managed to climb on the roof of the Rigaer Strasse house.

Berlin’s Interior Minister Andreas Geisel has canceled his participation in a conference of interior ministers on Wednesday because of the riots. “Those who burn car tires are not fighting for left-wing open spaces, but are harassing their own neighborhood,” he said.

The riots also drew condemnation from German politicians. Burkard Dregger, the head of the conservative Christian Democratic Union faction in Berlin’s parliament, accused the local ruling left-wing coalition of pandering to the “chaos” and “violence” of the leftist radicals. 

“They created the breeding ground for...violence that Berliners have suffered from for years,” he said.

Karsten Woldeit, a member of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, called on the police to immediately and “decisively” confront those he called “leftist terrorists.” The “hotbeds of violence” should be cleared immediately, he said.

The squatters previously announced violent resistance to the fire inspection of the house which is scheduled for early Thursday morning. Earlier, the district authorities ordered the owner to conduct the inspection or pay a fine of €500,000 ($605,650).

Police have cordoned off nearby areas and announced that access to the district would be granted only to its residents between Wednesday and Friday evening. Law enforcement are preparing for a “major operation,” according to the local media.

Volvo Struggling to Attract Foreign Specialists Due Partly to Sweden's High Crime Rate

Volvo CEO laments Sweden’s high crime rate,

says company might move its HQ abroad

Volvo Car Corporation Headquarters in Gothenburg   ©  Reuters / Bob Strong

The head of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has created quite a stir at home, saying that his company struggles to attract foreign specialists due to the lack of public security and may be considering moving elsewhere.

Speaking to the daily Svenska Dagbladet, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson lamented the fact that the auto manufacturer has been gradually losing its appeal to foreign tech experts and engineers, as well as top managers. The problem, according to him, partly lies in the fact that the specialists are reluctant to move to Sweden’s second largest city of Gothenburg, where Volvo’s headquarters are located, because of the arguably high crime rate.

“We are building cars, we cannot solve this problem,” Samuelsson told SvD. “Yet, one can still point out that this problem does exist.” Among the other issues he mentioned were the lack of affordable housing and schools.

The Volvo CEO even mentioned that the company might potentially consider moving its headquarters somewhere else – probably even out of Sweden – if this situation does not change. He hastened to say that Volvo is not considering such possibility just yet, but he would not completely rule it out in the future.

Samuelsson's words provoked an angry reaction from Gothenburg police chief Erik Nord, who dismissed them as “unfair.”

The general situation in the city is not that bad, he said, explaining that something that is seen as “normal” elsewhere somehow gets “undeservedly great attention” in Sweden.

Could be because Sweden used to be a law-abiding place?

The American shipping company, UPS, has reportedly stopped delivering parcels to a notorious neighborhood in Malmo, Sweden, often labeled a “no-go zone,” following a wave of attacks on their drivers.

Nord also criticized Sameulsson for what he described as relying too much on social media, which provides a distorted view of the situation, according to the police chief.

“Even such people as Hakan Samuelsson get their information from what they read on Facebook and Twitter. That does not mean it is true,” Nord told the Swedish media, adding that “Gothenburg is a fairly safe city” as compared with other cities around the world.

But will you compare it to Gothenburg 10 or 20 years ago?

Samuelsson may get his information from the internet because the police, the government and the media in Sweden all conspire to downplay anything bad involving migrants and Muslims. The proof of that is in this very article where you will not find those two terms except where I have added them. This despite the fact that migrants and Muslims commit a grossly disproportionate number of crimes compared to their relative size.

Other Swedish officials, however, were seemingly more favorable towards the Volvo CEO’s assessment of the situation. Prime Minister Stefan Loefven said he had “respect” for Samuelsson’s opinion.

“If Volvo experiences [such problems] then it is so,” he said, vowing to build more homes, make education better, and combat crime.

“We are investing more in higher education. We train twice as many police officers as before we took office,” Loefven told journalists.

And about the migrants who are criminals - what are we doing with them?

Axel Josefson, a municipal official from Gothenburg, said that he is well aware of the city’s problems and “agrees” with the criticism voiced by the CEO.

Criminal activities in Sweden’s second-largest city have indeed featured in the headlines for quite some time. Back in August 2018, Gothenburg saw a massive crimes surge, with dozens of cars as well as several buildings getting torched in a series of arson attacks.

A year prior, some areas of Gothenburg were described as virtual “no-go zones,” which have high crime and poverty rates and serve as fertile ground for religious extremism.

And that is as close as the media will get to saying migrants and Muslims.

Austrian Gov't Calls for ‘Restrictive Asylum Policy’ Amid Growing Crime Rate by Foreigners

The New Normal - Austria

Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (L) and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache in Seggau, Austria, on January 5, 2018. © Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters

The number of crimes committed by “foreigners” in Austria increased to 40 percent of the total in 2016, a new government report says. Interior Minister Herbert Kickl says a “strict asylum policy” is needed to tackle the issue.

In 2016, some 500,000 offenses were registered in Austria, with 40 percent of them being committed by “foreigners,” a new security report presented by the Interior Ministry says. According to Kickl, the number of foreign offenders increased by 13 percent.

Unfortunately, this article does not articulate what exactly is meant by the term 'foreigner', but Wikipedia identifies 10% of the Austrian population as 'foreigners', as of 2006. Half of them are from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey. It is probably safe to assume that at least 11% of the current population is 'foreign'.

This means that about 11% of the population is responsible for 40% of crime. Also, it means that 89% of the population is responsible for 60% of crime. So, out of a pop of 8.75m, less approximately 1 million foreigners, that leaves 7.75m non-foreigners to commit 300,000 crimes. That is a crime rate of less than 0.04%.

The other side of the coin reveals approximately 1 million people responsible for 200,000 crimes which results in a crime rate of 0.2% - 5 times the rate of non-foreigners.

The Austrian vice chancellor and head of the right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPO), Heinz-Christian Strache, also told journalists following the government meeting that asylum seekers accounted for almost 46 percent of foreign offenders. He described the figure as “significant” and called for a stricter refugee policy.

Here, also is a staggering statistic. At most, there are 150,000 asylum seekers in the country, and probably considerably less than that. So, that makes up 15% of the foreign population, or less, but account for almost half of the offenses committed by foreigners. So the issue is getting much worse and will continue to unless significant measures are taken.

“This shows that those who come to us to allegedly seek protection are also those from whom we then have to protect the Austrian people,” Strache said, as cited by the Kronen Zeitung daily. Kickl and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the head of the conservative People’s Party (OVP), have both called for a “tough” and “restrictive” asylum policy.

Ahead of the government meeting, Kickl told the Austrian ORF broadcaster that “a restrictive asylum policy is absolutely necessary” in the view of the latest security data. He went on to say that it should be particularly aimed at “preventing large masses of people from coming into [our] country in an uncontrollable manner.”

Kickl particularly called for accelerated asylum proceedings and deportation of failed asylum seekers. Other measures proposed by the minister include allowing the authorities to access refugees’ smartphones as well as introducing mandatory age checks for asylum seekers.

Following the government meeting on Wednesday, Kurz and Strache also said that they would stick to their election promises and enhance security in Austria. The new government was sworn in last month, swaying sharply to the right of the political spectrum with the inclusion of the FPO in the coalition.

In October’s parliamentary election, the FPO, known for its hardline anti-immigrant stance, came in third with 26 percent of the vote. Strache’s party clinched a deal to form a coalition with the OVP led by Kurz, who also took a more hardline stance on immigration.

Anti-immigrant sentiment appeared to grow in Austria after it was overwhelmed by a wave of asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution during the refugee crisis. Since 2015, the country has taken in some 150,000 asylum seekers, which accounts for over 1 percent of its population, one of the largest shares per capita alongside Sweden.

Austria's serious swing to the right of the political spectrum should be a warning call to Sweden, Holland and other left-leaning governments in Europe who hide statistics like these from their people in order to protect the growing criminal element invading Europe. Of course most migrants are not criminals, but governments need to do a much, much better job at removing those who are from the incoming migration. The alternative is to watch their country lurch sharply to the right.

Strache has previously offered controversial proposals concerning asylum policy. He recently suggested housing asylum seekers in barracks, adding that a curfew could be imposed to keep them there. Later, he clarified that the government so far had no such plans and that his idea was currently off the table.

Austria: Migrant Crime Increased by 54%

By Vincent van den Born

According to Austrian Kronen Zeitung, the crime statistics, published by the Ministry of the Interior on 6 March, present an overall unpleasant picture. Although police have been able to solve more crime than in any other year during the past decade, they still only manage to solve under 46%. 

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka reported that the number of reported crimes rose to 537,792, up 3.8% from last year. The newspaper calls the number of reported crimes in which asylum seekers are involved “particularly alarming” with a rise of 54%. Most offences were committed by Afghans, with 5072 of them suspected of a crime in 2016.

According to the criminal statistics, most complaints, 1622, were filed against perpetrators between 14 and 17 years of age. 1208 complaints were filed against migrants aged between 18 and 20. Besides Afghans, asylum seekers from Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria and Syria come into contact with the police, mostly committing petty theft (4684 cases), followed by cases involving bodily harm and drug related incidents.

Burglaries are less popular: the number of reported burglaries went down 16.4%, the lowest level in ten years. Most perpetrators in this category are foreign as well: Mostly Romanians, followed by Serbians, Georgians, Albanians and Croats. An increase (almost 7%) can be seen in crimes involving violence, with two out of three cases having a domestic background. According to the figures, foreigners, again play a major role, with most cases the result of disputes among migrants. 

Additionally, almost 2000 cases of minor bodily injuries were recorded. Knives, by the way, are most popular. Police were very successful in solving these cases though: according to Sobotka, an 83.9% rate of solved crimes is proof of great investigative work by the police.

A touch sarcastically, Krone Zeitung writes that the ministry wants to work hard to make Austria even safer. The number of police officers will be increased by more than 1500, with investments in equipment to the tune of €110 million. Sobotka, however, also expects the population to be vigilant and to be given more rights when it comes to security issues. This is intended to strengthen the confidence and trust of the Austrians in the government. According to Sobotka: “it takes a society that sees things, and not one of looking away.” - Really, how un-European an attitude is that!

6k+ Unofficial Refugees in Vienna get Social Benefits - Cannot be Deported

 © Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

More than 2,000 migrants living in the Austrian capital, Vienna, cannot be deported despite falling short of being granted asylum - mainly due to the lack of proper ID documents - while still receiving monthly payments, an Austrian daily has reported.

Out of 20,000 migrants that receive social benefits in Vienna, only about two thirds either have been granted asylum or have their asylum requests under consideration, the Austrian Kurier has uncovered. The rest are residing in the Austrian capital on the so called "tolerated stay" scheme.

As of November last year, 6,165 migrants were living in Vienna and are receiving social benefits because they cannot be deported from Austria, despite not being granted official refugee status, the daily reports, describing the situation as “the sucking out effect.”

The figure, according to the publication, has been confirmed by the Interior Ministry. Authorities, however, refused to officially comment on the matter.

Some of these migrants, the publication explains, cannot be deported because an individual is either without proper ID documents or the country of origin refused to accept them. Others cannot be sent back as it would violate the 1951 Refugee Convention that sets out the responsibilities of nations that takes in refugees.

Out of that number, 2,674 individuals have already been rejected for failing to meet the country's asylum criteria. These persons mainly come from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, in addition to those from Somalia, Nigeria and Chechnya.

As things stand, these individuals have the option of applying for a passport at their country’s embassy and then departing Austria on their own free will. However, they have no right to work in Austria, and continue to receive financial support from the Austrian state. This measure should prevent migrants from working illegally, according to authorities.

The rest, 3,491 asylum seekers, have been granted so-called "subsidiary protection", but falls short of being granted official refugee status. Under this directive, migrants cannot be deported from Austria, even if they commit a crime, as Austrian authorities fear they might face death or torture if sent home.

To stay in Austria, they have to file paperwork each year for their residence permits to be extended. However, in this instance, the government hands them basic social security payments and allows them to work in the country.

It is unclear, how many migrants, who cannot be deported from Vienna, committed any crimes, the daily reports. A local refugee policy coordinator, Peter Hacker, argued that the payout of social benefits lowers the migrant crime rate.

“Crime rate in Vienna effectively declines,” he told the Kurier daily, adding that “it is not a coincidence but a consequence of these strategic decisions.” He also said the government payments ensure that “no ghettos emerge” in Vienna, where people live without state support.

It is better to pay refugees easy money than to let them roam around city without any means of sustenance, he added.

Vienna’s challenges are compounded, however, with authorities expressing concerns about the rising number of migrants streaming in from other regions. The reason being, that Vienna pays social benefits even to migrants who are registered in other parts of Austria.

“It is not optimal that the situation is heading towards such concentration [of migrants in Vienna], the Austrian Interior Ministry said, as cited by the Kurier daily. The ministry warns of a potential rise in the crime rate and says, and citing one example, said mass scuffles in refugee shelters could become more frequent.

Currently, 25 percent of all refugees that live in Austria and who are receiving social benefits are residing in Vienna, according to the Kurier. About two thirds of those granted asylum are men.

The standard social benefit paid out is between € 205 ($219) and € 365 ($ 390) per person monthly. This means the Austrian state is spending about € 1.76 million ($ 1.88 million) per month on those 6,165 migrants in question.

Austria, which has a population of about 8.7 million people, received more than 130,000 asylum claims from people coming from the Middle East and North Africa since the summer of 2015, and took in one of the largest numbers of refugees per capita alongside Sweden.

Far-right Sweden Democrats Tied with Opposition Party as the Political Right Surges in Europe

    Party leader Jimmie Akesson celebrates at the election night party of the Sweden Democrats in
    Stockholm © Anders Wiklund / Reuters

The far-right anti-immigration party Sweden Democrats are tying for second place with the center-right opposition, a new poll shows. It comes as right-wing parties across Europe see Donald Trump’s victory as a welcome defeat for the establishment.

I confess I don't know a lot about the Sweden Democrats, but I wonder if labeling them "far-right" is an example of the media bias that became so obvious after the election of Trump. Are they actually 'far-right', or are they just far to the right of the media and possibly the current government. One could easily argue that both the media and the government of Sweden are 'left' if not 'far-left'. Consequently, someone leaning to the right, even only somewhat to the right, would appear to be 'far-right' of what the government and the media consider normal - themselves.

According to a poll published on Wednesday by Aftonbladet newspaper, support for the Sweden Democrats (SD) party rose to 21.5 percent, compared with the 13 percent they got in the 2014 general election. While the ruling Social Democrats maintain their lead of 25.7 percent, the Sweden Democrats (SD) are gaining ground on the Moderate Party, the largest opposition party with a popularity of 22 percent.

SD popularity figures are rising for a third month in a row, Aftonbladet adds.

“There is a movement in both Europe and the United States where the establishment is being challenged,” SD leader Jimmie Akesson told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. “It is clearly happening here as well.”

The poll commissioned by Aftonbladet was carried out by Inizio, which asked 2,051 people over 18 whom they would vote for if parliamentary elections were held today.

The Sweden Democrats growth in popularity is part of a surge in right-wing populism across Europe, with the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic AfD (Alternative for Germany) making huge gains at the expense of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, while the Austrian Freedom Party’s candidate Norbert Hofer is running for the Austrian presidency in elections scheduled for December 4.

Hofer has warned that Austria may leave the EU if Turkey succeeds in joining. The UK of course has already left the EU earlier this year in the much-publicized Brexit, following a campaign by the anti-immigration UKIP party.

The far-right in Europe has been emboldened by the election victory of Donald Trump, seeing it as a backlash to the establishment’s stained reputation. Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front now feels she is a real contender for the 2017 presidential elections

“Donald Trump has made possible what was presented as completely impossible,” Le Pen said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. “So it’s a sign of hope for those who cannot bear wild globalization. They cannot bear the political life led by the elites.”

Meanwhile, polling organizations were heavily criticized after the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections, where a majority predicted a win for Hillary Clinton.

“What seems to be a minority view in public might be a majority view in private,” Lars Gylling, YouGov's communications manager for the Nordics, told The Local. “There are some things that we don't want to tell even our closest friends, and those things are often tied to nationalism and views on immigrants, especially if they are negative.”

The populist movement is driven significantly by fears over terrorism, immigration and multiculturalism. In Sweden there is a popular perception that the crime rate by migrants and refugees is spiraling out-of-control.

Despite being a relatively low-crime country, there have been alarming reports of over fifty so-called “no-go zones” across Sweden where crime rates are high and police officers are at risk of attack.

Several high-profile incidents, including 38 reported sexual assaults at a Stockholm music festival this summer, have strengthened this view. Although the Swedish Crime Survey reported an 11 percent decrease in such attacks in 2015, the same year which saw a record number of migrants – nearly 163,000 applied for asylum according to the Swedish Migration Agency – the Swedish Democrats are the only party which has addressed voter’s fears directly. Sweden has also contributed the third-most jihadi fighters per capita to the conflict in Syria out of all the EU countries, and there is concern that returning militants will go on to commit terrorist attacks at home.