German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU leaders on Saturday denounced a recent spate of attacks on politicians in Germany, including one that sent a member of the European Parliament to hospital with serious injuries.
Matthias Ecke, 41, a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, was hit and kicked on Friday by a group of four people while putting up posters in Dresden, the capital of the eastern state of Saxony, police said.
A party source said his injuries would require an operation.
Photo: AFP
Shortly before, what appeared to be the same group attacked a 28-year-old campaigner for the Greens, who was also putting up posters, police said, although his injuries were not as severe.
“Democracy is threatened by this kind of thing,” Scholz told a convention of European socialists in Berlin.
The attacks exemplify increased violence in Germany in the past few years, often from the far-right, targeting especially leftist politicians. The German intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, domestic intelligence agency says far-right extremism is the biggest threat to German democracy.
Saxony Minister President Michael Kretschmer said such aggression and attempts at intimidation recalled the darkest era of German history, a reference to Nazi rule.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a former German minister, and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola both condemned the attack on Ecke.
“The culprits must be brought to account,” Von der Leyen wrote on X.
German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser vowed “tough action and further protective measures” in response to the attacks.
The heads of the Social Democratic Party in Saxony, Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, issued a statement in which they blamed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the rise in violence.
“These people and their supporters bear responsibility for what is happening in this country,” they said.
The AfD did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The party says it is the victim of a campaign by the media and political establishment.
The AfD has seen a surge in support in the past year take it to second place in opinion polls nationwide. It is particularly strong in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, where surveys suggest it could come first in regional elections in September.
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