A prominent Berlin politician was violently assaulted and suffered head and neck injuries in the latest attack on an elected official, police said Wednesday, amid growing political violence in Germany. There is growing concern about
Franziska Giffy, the city’s top economic official, former mayor and former federal minister, was attacked from behind during an event at a Berlin library on Tuesday and grabbed a bag containing a hard device, police said. I got hit. she said.
Giffy was taken to the hospital and treated for head and neck pain, police said. A 74-year-old man was taken into custody and police searched his home, police said. He said the suspect was known to police, but did not provide a motive.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the attack.
“Anyone who attacks politicians is attacking our democracy,” Wegner said, according to German news agency dpa. “We will not tolerate this. We oppose all forms of violence, hatred and incitement and will defend our democracy.”
“While we live in a free and democratic country where everyone is free to express their opinions, there are still clear limitations,” Giffey wrote on Instagram. It is violence against people who have
“They are a violation of boundaries and as a society we must firmly oppose them,” she said.
On Wednesday, protected by several bodyguards, Giffy told reporters at a public event in Berlin that he was feeling well but “we have to make sure that socially and politically responsible people can live in a country where they can move.” ” he also said. freely. ”
Last week, Mathias Ecke, candidate for Prime Minister Olaf Scholz’s party, had to undergo surgery after being beaten in eastern Dresden while campaigning for next month’s European Parliament elections.
Police detained four suspects, aged 17 and 18, and said the same group was believed to have attacked a Green Party official minutes before attacking Mr Ecke. At least one of the teens is believed to have ties to far-right groups, security officials said.
Also on Tuesday, dpa reported that a 47-year-old Green Party politician was attacked by two people while displaying election posters in Dresden.
The incident heightened political tensions in Germany.
Both the government and opposition say party members and supporters have been subjected to a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months. They called on police to increase protection for politicians and campaign rallies.
In February, the German parliament announced in a report that there were 2,790 attacks on elected representatives in 2023. Representatives of the Green Party were disproportionately affected in 1,219 cases, and the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) was disproportionately affected in 478 cases. 420 SPD results.
The country’s Deputy Prime Minister Robert Habeck, a member of the Green Party, was prevented from disembarking from a ferry for several hours in January by a group of angry farmers, as was Katrin Göring-Eckert, deputy speaker of the German parliament. Last week, an angry crowd blocked his car and prevented him from leaving an event in Brandenburg.
German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Feser said after a special meeting of interior ministers from the country’s 16 states on the issue of violence on Tuesday that Germany’s criminal law would also be strengthened to “punish anti-democratic acts more harshly.” He said it was a possible measure.
Many of the incidents occurred in the eastern part of the former communist country, where the Scholz government remains deeply unpopular. Saxony’s interior ministry announced that it had registered 112 election-related crimes so far this year, 30 of which were against elected officials and members of parliament.
Mainstream political parties accuse the AfD of having ties to violent neo-Nazi groups and fostering an intimidating political climate. One of its leaders, Bjorn Hocke, is currently on trial for using banned Nazi slogans.
Alternative for Germany, which campaigns against immigration and European integration, is expected to win in autumn elections in Saxony and two other eastern German states, as well as in European opinion polls.
Grieshaber writes for The Associated Press.
