Berlin Senator Franziska Giffey attacked in library – DW – May 8, 2024

The Berlin Senator for Economics, Energy and Enterprises, Franziska Giffey (SPD), was injured after an attack in a library in the Rudow district of the German capital.

Giffey then had to be treated in hospital.

What the authorities said

On Tuesday afternoon in a library, a man suddenly “attacked the former mayor from behind with a bag full of hard contents and hit her on the head and neck,” as police and the Berlin public prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday evening.

The state police have now taken over the investigation.

Giffey, from the center-left SPD and former mayor of Berlin, “briefly went to the hospital for outpatient treatment” because of a headache and neck pain, police said and the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Berlin’s sports senator Iris Spranger strongly condemned the attack “on Franziska Giffey and other politicians and election workers, all of whom are committed to a democratic debate.”

“State and federal police are doing everything they can to protect politicians. The Conference of Interior Ministers agreed yesterday in the special session that democracy must be protected more effectively against hate speech and misinformation.”

“Protecting individuals from such attacks under criminal law also serves to protect democracy itself.”

Local lawmakers were increasingly insulted, threatened and attacked

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Pattern of attacks on politicians

The incident came just days after an attack on MEP Matthias Ecke and a Green Party campaign worker in Dresden.

Ecke, a member of the European Parliament for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD, was attacked by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday evening, according to the police.

jsi/kb (AFP, dpa)