North Rhine-Westphalia recorded a sharp rise in politically motivated crimes targeting the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in 2025, with more than 1,000 offences reported, according to figures released by the state government in response to a parliamentary inquiry by AfD lawmaker Markus Wagner.
The data also show that several investigations into attacks on AfD-linked premises in the western German city of Wuppertal were discontinued after prosecutors failed to identify suspects or concrete leads.
The incidents formed part of a wider series of attacks on AfD-linked offices and properties in Wuppertal, Mönchengladbach and Gummersbach during 2025. According to the NRW government, pink paint and paint-filled containers were allegedly used in several of the cases.
The Wuppertal investigations related to incidents on June 6th, June 19th, and July 6th, 2025. Prosecutors ultimately closed the cases under Section 170(2) of the German Code of Criminal Procedure due to a lack of suspects or actionable evidence.
Authorities in Cologne said investigations into other incidents remain ongoing, although the state government did not provide details about possible suspects or investigative progress.
The figures released by the NRW government show a dramatic increase in offences targeting the AfD over recent years. While 76 such crimes were recorded in 2023, the number rose to 378 in 2024 before surging to 1,053 in 2025.
Property damage accounted for the largest category of offences, rising from 166 cases in 2024 to 567 in 2025. Insults also increased sharply, climbing from 71 to 150 recorded incidents. Assault offences, threats, and violations of Germany’s assembly law also rose.
Separately, NRW’s Interior Ministry reported that left-wing extremist crimes in the state more than doubled in 2025 to over 2,400 cases. Violent offences linked to left-wing extremism increased by around 78%, according to the ministry.
The state government did not specify which political groups or motives were linked to the individual offences against the AfD, and said no confirmed organisational connections between the attacks had yet been established.
Wagner, the AfD’s interior affairs spokesman in the NRW state parliament, accused mainstream politicians of helping create a climate that encouraged attacks against his party through their rhetoric against the AfD.
