Matthias Ecke survives facial surgery – LKA sees right-wing extremist background
After an attack on SPD politicians – house searches of three other suspects
After the attack on the SPD MEP Ecke in Dresden, three more suspects have been identified. The apartments of the accused, aged 17 and 18, were searched, the Dresden public prosecutor’s office and the Saxony State Criminal Police Office said.
After the physical attack on Matthias Ecke in Dresden, the SPD politician apparently survived the operation well. According to SPD General Secretary Kühnert, he is “decided” to return to the election campaign. The investigators classify at least one of the four suspects as “right-wing politically motivated.”
NAfter the attack against SPD politician Matthias Ecke in Dresden, the authorities are investigating four suspects aged 17 and 18. The Saxony State Criminal Police Office attributes at least one of the suspects to the right-wing extremist spectrum. It is assumed that he falls into the “politically motivated right-wing category,” a spokeswoman for the LKA said on Monday. Previously, “Time online“ reported.
After a 17-year-old reported the attack to the police on Sunday, the three other suspects were subsequently identified, the Saxony State Criminal Police Office and the Dresden public prosecutor’s office announced on Monday. The four young men have German citizenship.
The suspects are currently at large because, according to the information, there were no reasons for their arrest. According to information from security circles, two of the most recently identified suspects have already appeared to the police. Evidence was seized during apartment searches and is now being evaluated. It will take some time until the investigation is completed, they said.
Corner operated on for facial fractures
According to SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert, the attacked corner is on the road to recovery. “As far as we can tell at this point, he survived the operation well,” said Kühnert on Monday in Berlin. The 41-year-old was operated on on Sunday – “because of several fractures that he suffered in his face during this attack”.
Despite the operation going well, Kühnert made it clear: “The recovery process will be a long road.” Ecke will spend the next few days in the hospital. According to Kühnert, party leader Saskia Esken wanted to visit him there on Monday.
Ecke did not want to be intimidated, emphasized the SPD general secretary. Rather, he is “determined to be able to return to this election campaign.” The European politician wants to fight even harder for democratic values and high voter turnout.
The attack on Ecke while hanging up election posters caused horror across Germany and sparked a debate about the escalation of violence in the election campaign. On Sunday, several thousand people demonstrated for democracy and against violence in Dresden and Berlin. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to everyone to conduct the political debate peacefully and with respect.
Demonstrations in Dresden and Berlin
Two alliances had called for demonstrations in Berlin and Dresden on Sunday afternoon – the motto: “Violence has no place in our democracy!” According to police and organizers, around 3,000 people came together in the Saxon state capital, including Bundestag Vice President Katrin-Göring-Eckardt (Greens) and SPD federal chairwoman Saskia Esken.
Protesters on Sunday in Dresden
Source: Getty Images/Jens Schlueter
In Berlin, according to the police, around 1,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate; according to later information from the organizers, there were ultimately around 3,000 people. These included the Green Party chairmen Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil and the Prime Ministers of Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, Michael Kretschmer and Hendrik Wüst (both CDU).
By Monday morning, around 200 members of various parliaments had signed the so-called Striesen Declaration, including the chairmen of the SPD, the Greens and the Left as well as members of the Union. The declaration is against “the ever escalating violence against politically active people in public spaces”. The SPD politician was attacked in the Striesen district of Dresden.
Federal Government: Attacks “threaten our democracy”
The federal government strongly condemned the attack. Attacks on politicians and volunteer campaigners “threaten our democracy,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann in Berlin on Monday. What the motive is in each individual case and who the attack is directed against is irrelevant.
A climate of violence has emerged, which is why Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has recently taken several measures to counteract this development, said her ministry’s spokesman, Maximilian Kall. Faeser calls for more police presence to protect politicians during election campaigns.
Faeser could discuss this with the interior ministers of the federal states as early as Tuesday. The chairman of the Conference of Interior Ministers, Brandenburg’s department head Michael Stübgen (CDU), announced that he would propose a date for an informal meeting at the level of the Conference of Interior Ministers. The case may have a parliamentary aftermath in Saxony.
In addition to Ecke, other politicians have been victims of attacks or coercion in recent days. In Essen, Bundestag member Kai Gehring (Greens) and his party colleague Rolf Fliß were attacked. A few days ago, Bundestag Vice President Katrin-Göring-Eckardt (Greens) was aggressively harassed after an event in eastern Brandenburg and prevented from leaving. And in Nordhorn, Lower Saxony, an AfD member of the state parliament was beaten at an information stand on Saturday morning, according to police reports.