German teenager faces vicious attack on European election candidates

BERLIN (AP) — A teenager turned himself in to police on Sunday over an attack on a candidate from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party that raised concerns about intimidation and violence ahead of next month’s European Parliament elections.

As the Saxon state police announced, the 17-year-old, accompanied by a parent, turned himself in at a police station in the eastern city of Dresden at 1 a.m. “He admitted the crime, but didn’t go beyond it,” said police spokeswoman Silvaine Reiche.

Matthias Ecke, the Social Democrats’ candidate for the June 9 election, was attacked by four people in Dresden on Friday evening as he was hanging up posters. The party said he was taken to a hospital and required surgery for his injuries.

Both government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months and have called for greater protection for politicians and election rallies.

Mainstream parties accuse the far-right Alternative for Germany party of having ties to violent neo-Nazi groups and fomenting an intimidating political climate. One of their leaders, Björn Hoecke, is currently on trial for using a banned Nazi slogan.

Alternative for Germany, which campaigns against immigration and European integration, is expected to make gains in European polls and in elections in Saxony and two other eastern German states in the fall.