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Matthias Ecke: SPD top candidate operated on in Dresden after attack

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Dresden
SPD politician Ecke attacked and seriously injured while posting posters

Matthias Ecke (archive photo) sits for the SPD in the European Parliament

© Heiko Rebsch / DPA

SPD leading candidate Matthias Ecke was attacked in Dresden while he and his team were hanging posters for the European elections. According to the party, he needed surgery.

MEP Matthias Ecke (SPD) was attacked and seriously injured while posting posters in the Striesen district of Dresden. While putting up election posters for the SPD late on Friday evening, four unknown people beat a 41-year-old, the police announced on Saturday. He had to receive medical care in the hospital. According to the SPD Saxony, this is their top candidate in the European elections, Matthias Ecke. He therefore needs to undergo surgery. There were further attempts at intimidation, poster destruction and insults from other poster teams.

The attack was an “unmistakable alarm signal to all people in this country,” said state party leaders Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, according to the statement. “The series of attacks by thugs on poster teams of democratic parties are an attack on the foundations of our democracy. The violent actions and intimidation of democrats are the means of fascists.” The seeds that the AfD and other right-wing extremists have sown are growing; their supporters are completely disinhibited. But the SPD cannot be silenced, emphasized Homann and Michel.

SPD condemns attack on Matthias Ecke

The SPD federal chairmen Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil strongly condemned the attack on Ecke. “This insidious attack affects our entire party. It is an attack on all election campaigners who passionately support our democracy and the rule of law,” it said in a statement on Saturday. “The perpetrators want to intimidate us as representatives of a democratic society. But they will never succeed.” It is expected that the crime will be solved and the perpetrators will be held accountable.

Minutes earlier, according to the police, a group of four attacked a 28-year-old campaign worker for the Green Party who was also posting posters. The perpetrators hit and kicked him, and the 28-year-old was also injured. Based on the matching personal descriptions and the proximity in time and location, the state security investigators assume that the perpetrators are the same in both cases.