Attacks on German politicians bring back memories of the Nazi past – POLITICO

Last week, Matthias Ecke, an SPD politician and member of the European Parliament, was hanging campaign posters for the upcoming European elections in the eastern German city of Dresden when he was allegedly approached by a group of four young men and beaten.

Ecke suffered, among other things, fractures to his cheekbone and eye socket and was taken to hospital.

In the same district of Dresden, the group of young people is said to have attacked a Green activist that evening. One of the attackers punched him twice in the face, and after the victim fell to the ground, the attackers kicked him repeatedly, according to witnesses.

Last Tuesday evening, local Green Party candidate Yvonne Mosler was hanging up campaign posters in Dresden with a television crew when a man pushed her aside, tore down the posters and a young woman spat at her.

More attacks this week – including one against Berlin’s former mayor, SPD politician Franziska Giffey, who police say was attacked in a public library by a man who hit her in the head from behind with a “bag full of hard contents.” – more triggered alarm across the country.

“We are experiencing an escalation of anti-democratic violence,” said Nancy Faeser, the German interior minister, also from the SPD.