Another German politician attacked as fears of violence grew

A prominent Berlin politician was violently attacked and suffered injuries to her head and neck in the latest attack on elected officials, police said on Wednesday, raising concerns about rising political violence in Germany.

Franziska Giffey, the city’s top economic official, a former mayor and former federal minister, was attacked at an event in a Berlin library on Tuesday by a man who came up from behind and hit her with a bag containing a hard object, according to the police said.

Giffey was taken to a hospital and treated for a headache and neck pain, police said. A 74-year-old man was arrested and police searched his home, police said. They said the suspect was known to police but did not provide any information about a motive.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the attack.

“Anyone who attacks politicians is attacking our democracy,” said Wegner, according to dpa. “We won’t tolerate that. We will resist all forms of violence, hatred and incitement and protect our democracy.”

Giffey wrote on Instagram: “We live in a free and democratic country where everyone can freely express their opinions… and yet there is a clear limit.” And that is violence against those who think differently, for whatever reasons, in whatever form always.”

“They are a transgression that we as a society must resolutely confront,” she said.

On Wednesday, Giffey, protected by several bodyguards, told reporters at a public event in Berlin that she was fine, but “we must also enable ourselves to live in a country in which those who have social and political responsibility can move carry.” free.”

Last week, Matthias Ecke, a candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party, was beaten in the eastern city of Dresden while campaigning for next month’s European elections and had to undergo surgery.

Police arrested four suspects, ages 17 and 18, and said the same group appeared to have attacked a Green Party employee minutes before the attack on Ecke. At least one of the youths is believed to have ties to right-wing extremist groups, security officials said.

Also on Tuesday, a 47-year-old Green politician was attacked by two people while hanging up election posters in Dresden, as the dpa reported.

The incidents have increased political tensions in Germany.

Both government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months. They called on the police to increase protection for politicians and election rallies.

In February, the Bundestag announced in a report that there had been 2,790 attacks on elected representatives in 2023. Representatives of the Green Party were disproportionately affected in 1,219 cases, those of the right-wing extremist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in 478 cases and members of the SPD in 420 cases.

Green Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck was blocked from leaving a ferry for hours by a group of angry farmers in January, just as German Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt The Green Party was blocked from leaving an event in the state of Brandenburg last week , as an angry crowd blocked their car.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said after a special meeting of the country’s 16 state interior ministers on the issue of violence on Tuesday that possible measures included tightening German criminal law to “punish anti-democratic acts more harshly.”

Many of the incidents took place in the former communist eastern part of the country, where Scholz’s government is deeply unpopular. According to the Saxon Ministry of the Interior, 112 electoral offenses have been registered so far this year, including 30 against elected officials or representatives of the people.

Mainstream parties accuse the AfD 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.

Grieshaber writes for the Associated Press.