BERLIN

The number of attacks targeting asylum seekers and refugee centers has almost doubled in 2023, according to figures made public on Wednesday.

German police registered 2,378 attacks targeting refugees last year, up from 1,248 attacks recorded in 2022, according to the official figures by the Interior Ministry.

At least 219 people were injured in those attacks, most of which were committed by right-wing extremists.

Authorities responded and investigated at least 180 attacks targeting refugee shelters, the highest figure since 2017. In 2022, 70 attacks against refugee housing facilities were recorded.

The latest figures were disclosed by the Interior Ministry, in response to parliamentary question by the Left Party, and was published by the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung daily.

Germany has witnessed growing xenophobia and anti-migrant hatred in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of neo-Nazi groups and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Germany took in more than 1.2 million refugees in 2022. The vast majority of them were Ukrainians who fled their homes due to the war.

At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, Germany welcomed more than 1 million refugees, many of them were Syrians escaping the country's civil war.