Green politician attacked and injured at election campaign event
Election posters are also repeatedly damaged (archive photo)
Source: dpa/Michael Kappeler
Another attack on politicians: In Göttingen, a representative of the Green Party was attacked by a man. He is said to have hit her several times in the upper body. The woman suffered minor injuries.
BDuring an election campaign event in downtown Göttingen, the Lower Saxony state parliament member Marie Kollenrott (Greens) was attacked and slightly injured. The police and the Greens parliamentary group announced this on Saturday evening. According to the police’s current findings, a man hit the politician several times in the upper body at midday. According to the police, Kollenrott suffered minor injuries to his arms. The officers arrested the suspected attacker shortly afterwards near the crime scene. They established the identity of the 66-year-old and then released him. State security has taken over further investigations.
As Kollenrott told the German Press Agency on Saturday evening, the attack occurred at an election campaign stand. One arm was bruised and the injury was documented by the police. Kollenrott said she did not have to go to hospital. The 39-year-old has been a member of the state parliament since October 2021. Her main areas of focus include environmental and energy policy.
“We condemn the attack in the strongest possible terms,” said Green Party parliamentary group leader Anne Kura in the evening. “Physical attacks on democrats are an attack on our democracy. We are shocked, but we will not be intimidated.” Violence should never be a means of political conflict, said Kura.
According to initial findings, the man from Göttingen made derogatory comments about the Greens near the campaign stand in a pedestrian zone near the Old Town Hall, according to the police. There was apparently a brief political discussion with the victim. The man then approached the politician. He hit the woman in the upper body and walked away. The state parliament member and a witness reportedly gave chase and alerted the police.
Several attacks on politicians and campaign workers have caused horror across the country in recent weeks. In Dresden, SPD campaigner Matthias Ecke was beaten so badly that he had to be hospitalized, and local politician Yvonne Mosler (Greens) was jostled and threatened while hanging election posters. In Berlin, a suspect was temporarily placed in a psychiatric hospital after an attack on Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD). AfD politicians were also the target of attacks.