DW documents attack on Green Party politician in Dresden – DW – May 8, 2024

In an incident recorded by a DW film crew on Tuesday, Green Party candidate Yvonne Mosler and others were verbally and physically attacked.

Mosler and her team hung campaign posters in the eastern German city of Dresden.

In the video, the city council candidate was verbally attacked by a woman and then spat on, while her male accomplice pushed members of her team as the two shouted at her and demanded the film be deleted.

Other people made baseless insults reminiscent of the US conspiracy group QAnon, claiming the Green Party was a pedophile, chanting far-right slogans and calling for support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The attack came on the same day that Social Democrat Franziska Giffey was hospitalized after being hit in the head by a man in a Berlin library.

These attacks, in turn, came after several Green and SPD politicians were attacked last week. The most serious of these incidents was that EU parliamentarian Matthias Ecke had to undergo surgery for injuries after he was punched and kicked by four young men in Dresden.

Reminiscent of the “really darkest time in German history”

In an interview with DW chief correspondent Michaela Küfner, Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) warned of the harsh political situation.

“It reminds you of the really darkest time in German history … when people who are involved in politics, who deal with political issues, are threatened by others.”

“That is why the constitutional state, the police, but also we as a society – together – clearly have to act with all the power at our disposal,” he added, referring to the killing of the Hessian state politician Walter Lübke by a neo-Nazi in 2019.

There is growing concern across Germany that the violent and dehumanizing rhetoric of parties like the AfD has led to a normalization of violence that some believe is justified. Giffey called such attacks “a violation that society must resolutely counter.”

While these attacks have primarily targeted Green and Social Democratic politicians, others have also been targeted, including local, state, federal and EU politicians.

js/dj (DW sources)