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DEMOCRACY

Nearly a third of Germans ‘believe in conspiracy theories’: Study

Education level and political affiliation play a significant difference in whether a person in Germany is likely to believe in conspiracy theories.

Nearly a third of Germans 'believe in conspiracy theories': Study
A man with a sign reading 'vaccination is healthy: trust me' Photo: DPA

Around a third of Germans believe in conspiracy theories, a new study has found

Almost a third of the total population (30 percent) believe that it is “probably right” (19 percent) or “certainly right” (11 percent) that secret powers control the world. 

When asked to name which secret powers controlled the world, 16 percent said they did not know. 

13 percent said banks and financial entities, 12 percent said security or intelligence services such as the CIA or Mossad, while 11 percent nominated wealthy, prominent families like the Rockefellers or the Rothschilds. 

READ: Three-quarters of Germans 'don't support coronavirus protests' 

Education and political affiliation crucial

The researchers found that Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters were far more likely than voters of other parties to believe in conspiracy theories. 

More than half of supporters of the right-wing AfD (56 percent) believed in conspiracy theories. 

Similarly, people with lower levels of education were also more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, as were older people and people from a migrant background. 

READ: 'Anti-coronavirus' demonstration takes place in Berlin 

Factors which had no influence on the belief in conspiracy theories was gender and whether a person comes from the former West or East Germany. 

The study was carried out by Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation over a five month period from October 2019 to February 2020, meaning that the spread of coronavirus did not play a role in influencing the findings. 

The study, entitled They Are Everywhere (Sie sind überall) was conducted via mobile and landline surveys and took into account the opinions of 3,250 people. 

 

 

 

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ISRAEL

Police arrest 59 at pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin

Police made 59 arrests while dozens of police officers were injured during violent clashes at a Pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin this weekend, police said on Sunday.

Police arrest 59 at pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin
Protesters take part in a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians called over the ongoing conflict with Israel on May 15, 2021 at Hermannplatz in Berlin. STEFANIE LOOS / AFP

Around 3,500 people had gathered in the German capital’s Neukölln district on Saturday afternoon in one of several rallies over the escalating conflict in the Middle East, according to police.

Protesters threw stones, bottles and fireworks as police tried to break up the demonstration, injuring 93 officers and prompting them to use pepper spray.

Several people were being investigated for shouting “anti-Israel slogans”, the police said.

Around 900 officers were deployed to several demonstrations during the day, with the others passing mainly peacefully.

Palestinian militants have launched more than 3,000 rockets into Israel over the past week, according to Israel’s army, which has launched hundreds of air strikes on Hamas and other Islamist groups in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza.

The most intense hostilities in seven years were triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

Germany has seen several scattered demonstrations over the escalating conflict, with protesters shouting anti-Semitic slogans, burning Israeli flags and damaging the entrance to a synagogue with stones.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany on Sunday said it had received “a torrent of the most vile anti-Semitic insults” on social media.

READ ALSO: Germany’s Jews call for protection amid Israel-Palestinian clashes

Council president Josef Schuster urged the police to take a hard line against anti-Semitism and said recent events had been “reminiscent of the darkest times in German history”.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Sunday said Germany would crack down hard on anyone found to be spreading “anti-Semitic hatred”.

“We will not tolerate Israeli flags burning on German soil and Jewish institutions being attacked,” he told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

READ ALSO: Germany slams ‘anti-Semitic’ demos and Hamas ‘terrorist attacks’
 
Speaking at an ecumenical church congress, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also said “nothing can justify” threats to Jews in Germany or attacks on synagogues. 

Some six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.

The Jewish community in Germany has been growing since reunification in 1990, notably with the arrival of many thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union.

The arrival of refugees from Arab nations hostile to Israel, in 2015 and 2016, added to the prevailing anti-Semitism in some Muslim circles in Germany.

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