German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has called for protests against right-wing extremism, claiming in an op-ed published in the Saturday edition of Bild newspaper that Germany "has a terrorism problem."

In the editorial, Maas responded to the recent murder of a German district president, Walter Lübcke, as well as death threats directed towards pro-migrant politicians Henriette Reker and Andreas Hollstein, the mayors of western German cities Cologne and Altena respectively.

"Eighty years after the beginning of World War II, politicians have again become victims of right-wing terrorists. Because of their beliefs. Because of their commitment to our country," Maas wrote.

"All this shows what many still close their eyes to even now: Germany has a terrorism problem."

Maas claimed that Germany has more than 12,000 violent right-wing extremists, but 450 of them are able to stay underground, "even though they are wanted with an arrest warrant."

The German foreign minister said that Germans turn a blind eye to right-wing attacks and that right-wing terrorism should be identified as such.

Maas proposed a Thursday protest for democracy similar to the "Fridays for future" climate change protest where Germans "show that we are more than right-wing radicals, anti-Semites and dividers."

Deutsche Welle

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• Heiko Maas
• Germany
• Extremism