Nancy Faeser, the German Interior Minister, pledged to address the escalating violence against political representatives on Saturday. This commitment followed the hospitalisation of Matthias Ecke, a German European Parliament member from Faeser’s Social Democrats (SPD), who was assaulted during his re-election campaign.
A group of four individuals assaulted Ecke, aged 41, in Dresden, Saxony’s capital, while he was displaying campaign posters, as per police reports. An SPD insider mentioned that his injuries necessitated surgery. Prior to that, an identical group supposedly attacked a 28-year-old Greens campaigner, also putting up posters. His injuries, however, were less severe.
Faeser underlined the necessity for a tough state response and additional safeguards for the nation’s democratic forces following the attacks. She referred to Ecke’s assault as a “democratic attack.”
Various European politicians, including European Parliament president Roberta Metsola, expressed their sympathies towards Ecke online, describing the assault as frightful.
As per government records released in January, attacks on political representatives of parties seated in parliament have seen a twofold increase since 2019. Extremists’ and populists’ verbal aggression toward democratic politicians has provoked an escalation in violence, according to Faeser.
The domestic intelligence agency, BfV, identifies far-right extremism as German democracy’s most significant menace. Over the past year, support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged, placing it second in national polls.
AfD has notably gained traction in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg’s eastern states. Current polling suggests they could top the regional elections in all three states in September.
According to state data, the Green Party politicians are subjected to the highest level of aggression, with attacks against them rising sevenfold since 2019 to 1,219 last year. There were 478 attacks on AfD politicians and 420 on SPD, making it third.
Theresa Ertel, who’s representing the Greens in the upcoming local elections in Thuringia, has spoken of party members expressing hesitance to stand due to the hostile political climate. In her region, it has been agreed upon by the Greens that every information booth ought to be staffed by no fewer than three individuals to enhance safety measures. This information was reported by Sarah Marsh, Andreas Rinke and Christian Ruettger from Berlin, with additional reporting carried out by Kate Abnett based in Brussels. Copyright reserved to Thomson Reuters, 2024.