Also read: Germany in shock after attack on MEP who put up election posters
Several political leaders have been threatened or attacked recently in Germany in the context of a tense electoral campaign before the European vote on June 9 and several regional elections in September. The most serious case at this stage concerns an MEP from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, who was seriously injured last week by four people while putting up posters in the Saxon city of Dresden, in former communist GDR. Matthias Ecke, 41, required surgery for serious facial injuries. The attack was denounced by Olaf Scholz as a threat to democracy.
A new case of assault was reported Tuesday evening in this city: a 47-year-old environmentalist politician who was putting up election posters was pushed and threatened by a man. Another woman then approached and spat in his face, state police said. The two suspects were arrested, she added, specifying that they were a 34-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, both of German nationality. They were part of a group standing nearby, some of whom had given the Hitler salute – a gesture banned in Germany – when the environmentalist had started putting up his posters.
Also read: European elections, between the rise of the far right and Russian interference
According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, compared to 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, the year of the legislative elections.
