As hate crimes against migrants in Germany continue, more than 200 attacks on refugee shelters were reported across Germany. According to Federal Criminal Police (BKA) statistics published by the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, 226 attacks were registered so far in the country. Despite the downward trend, there is an attack on an asylum center almost every day in Germany, according to reports.

Overall, more attacks have been counted this year than before the refugee crisis began in 2014, when there were only 199 reported cases for the entire year.

The reports suggest that most offenses have a right-wing radical background. Far-right offenses in Germany spiked last year to their highest level since 2001, amid growing anti-refugee and migrant sentiment in the country triggered by propaganda from far-right parties.

Accommodations for asylum seekers have frequently been the target of arson and hate crimes in Germany. The number of crimes against accommodation centers in Germany was almost a third higher in the first 10 months of 2016 than in the same period last year, according to data released on Nov. 5, 2016, despite a drop in the number of refugee arrivals.

Despite the increase in hate crimes against refugees, the number of people seeking refuge in Germany more than doubled in the two years to the end of 2016, according to data released last Thursday, as migration emerges as a major hurdle to Chancellor Angela Merkel's efforts to forge a new coalition.

The Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) said those seeking protection in Germany surged to 1.6 million by the end of last year, a rise of 113 percent from 2014, and equivalent to 16 percent of the number of foreigners in the country.

More than half of the 1.6 million arrivals had been granted permission to stay in Germany, the Destatis said. About half of those were from Syria with 455,000, 191 from Afghanistan and 156,000 from Iraq, it said. The number of new arrivals in Germany has fallen sharply since the start of the year after European Union member states stepped up action to trim the flow of refugees and migrants into the EU. However, about 158,000 of those living in Germany were rejected asylum seekers, despite Berlin's efforts at deporting those without any legal right to be in the country.