Na weekend that was marked in Portugal by attacks on several immigrants, in Porto, violence also marked eastern Germany, where, in Dresden, an SPD MEP was attacked during a campaign action.
It all happened on Friday night, when Matthias Ecke was putting up posters as part of his campaign for the European elections, which take place in a month. The 41-year-old man was attacked by four strangers and was seriously injured, and is now “receiving medical treatment in hospital” after surgery.
The aggression led the SPD in the state of Saxony to reinforce security measures preventing, from now on, its members from carrying out campaign actions alone. They should always be in groups of four or five to be able to react to potential attacks. Furthermore, the police will be informed in advance about the placement of posters.
One of the attackers handed himself in this Sunday. It’s smaller
This Sunday morning, the German police reported that a 17-year-old teenager had handed himself in to the authorities, stating that he was one of the perpetrators of the violent attack.
“He admitted the act, but didn’t say anything else,” explained a police spokesperson, detailing that he said he was “the perpetrator of the crime that had overthrown the SPD politician.”
Attack was condemned across Europe (including in Portugal)
Several German political officials, including the chancellor, condemned the violent attack.
“Democracy is threatened by these types of acts”said Olaf Scholz, in a message in which he wished Matthias Ecke, an MEP from his ruling party, to “face what came into his life as a horror”.
Shrugging it off is never an option. Because attacks like the one on MEP Matthias Ecke and other candidates threaten our democracy.
We have to stand together against this.
I wish Matthias Ecke a speedy recovery.— Chancellor Olaf Scholz (@Federal Chancellor) May 4, 2024
The German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, also condemned the aggression, in a statement cited by the press. “If a politically motivated attack is confirmed a few weeks before the European elections, this serious act of violence also constitutes a serious attack on democracy”, reads the note, in which it is also considered that this is “a new dimension of anti-democratic violence.” Faeser also points the finger at “extremists and populists, who are fueling a growing climate of violence with completely disproportionate verbal attacks.”
The leaders of the SPD in Saxony, Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, also reacted: “The seeds sown by the AfD and other right-wing extremists are germinating. Their supporters are now completely uninhibited and clearly regard them as a game of democrats,” they write.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, took to social media to talk about the issue. “I am horrified by the cruel attack against MEP Matthias Ecke in Dresden. I offer my full support and solidarity. Those responsible must be brought to justice”wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Horrified by the vicious attack on the MEP @MattEcke in Dresden. My full support and solidarity. Those responsible must be brought to justice.
Matthias, @Europarl_DE is at your side.
— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) May 4, 2024
Here, the parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party, Alexandra Leitão, condemned the attack on the MEP. In a publication on the social network, incites violence.”
The absolutely reprehensible attack on immigrants in Porto, as well as the brutal beating of the SPD candidate in Germany, should alert us to the danger of normalizing the radical, xenophobic, racist, misogynistic and homophobic far right, whose hate speech incites violence .
— Alexandra Leitão (@Alexandrarfl) May 5, 2024
This is not the first attack
According to the police, a group of four people had attacked, minutes before, a 28-year-old member of the Greens, while he was posting posters on the same street. The young man was injured after being kicked. Based on the corresponding descriptions and the temporal and local proximity, investigators believe that the perpetrators are the same in both cases.
Also on Thursday night, two deputies elected by the Greens, the party that governs with the SPD, were attacked in Essen, in western Germany, with one of them being hit in the face, according to police.
On the last Saturday of April, several dozen protesters attacked the vice-president of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, elected by the Green Party, after a festive event in eastern Germany. Her car was blocked and it was necessary to call police reinforcements to let her leave the scene.
These attacks are the result of “rhetoric, the atmosphere created, of turning people against each other and pitting them against each other”, lamented Olaf Scholz.
“We must never resign ourselves to these acts of violence, we must oppose them together”, insisted the chancellor.
According to Armin Schuster, Minister of the Interior of Saxony, where an important regional election will be held on September 1, 112 politically motivated crimes related to the elections have been recorded in the Land since the beginning of the year, 30 of which against incumbents. political positions or elective mandates.
“What is absolutely worrying is the intensity with which attacks are multiplying today”concluded Schuster.
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2554384/s
