German politicians attacked while campaigning
Franziska Giffey was attacked from behind with a bag containing a hard object – Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
Germany is grappling with a disturbing wave of violence against politicians after three lawmakers were targeted while out campaigning.
On Tuesday evening Franziska Giffey, a senator from Chancellor Olaf Scholz Scholz’s centre-left SDP party, was attacked from behind with a bag containing a hard object.
She was treated in hospital after suffering injuries to her head and neck.
The attack came just days after a violent assault on an SDP MEP, Matthias Ecke, who was set upon by four people while he was putting up campaign posters in the city of Dresden.
Mr Ecke was left with a broken cheekbone and injuries to his eye socket which required surgery over the weekend.
In a post on social media showing bruising and stitches on his face, the MEP wrote: “In a democracy, no one should have to fear speaking their mind.”
Matthias Ecke, an SPD MEP, was left with a broken cheekbone and injuries to his eye socket – Matthias Rietschel/REUTERS
Also on Tuesday, a politician for the Greens, Yvonne Mosler, was harassed and allegedly spat on while she was hanging up campaign material for the European elections in June.
All German states held a special meeting this week to discuss the rise in violence against politicians, with interior minister Nancy Faeser vowing to tighten up assault laws to “punish anti-democratic acts more severely.”
‘Supposedly justified attacks’
A report by the German parliament in February said there had been 2,790 attacks on politicians in 2023, with more than a thousand of the incidents targeted at the Greens.
Ms Giffey said she was shocked by the attack but otherwise “fine,” as she condemned a “fair-game culture in which people who are politically active and engaged in our country are increasingly exposed to supposedly justified and acceptable attacks.”
German police said they had identified Ms Giffey’s attacker but did not provide further details.
Officers have also arrested four suspected far-Right extremists, aged between 17 and 18, over the attack on Mr Ecke last week.
Chancellor Scholz said last week that assaults on politicians were putting German democracy at risk, amid concerns that tensions are rising in the country ahead of June’s elections.
“Democracy is threatened by this kind of act, we must never accept such acts of violence … we must oppose it together,” Mr Scholz said.
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