While he was hanging up election posters, four unknown people attacked: The SPD Saxony’s top candidate, Matthias Ecke, was seriously injured and needed surgery, the party said. Recently there have been some attacks on politicians.
According to the party, the Saxon SPD’s leading candidate for the European elections, Matthias Ecke, was attacked and seriously injured while posting posters in Dresden. The SPD Saxony announced that he needed to be operated on.
As the police announced, four unknown people hit the 41-year-old late on Friday evening while hanging up election posters for the SPD. The incident occurred on the street in the Striesen district. More information should follow later today.
According to the SPD Saxony, there were also attempts at intimidation, destruction of posters and insults among other party poster teams.
“Devious attack” convicted
The SPD leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil spoke of a deceitful attack and condemned it “in the strongest possible terms”. “The perpetrators want to intimidate us as representatives of a democratic society. But they will never succeed,” it said in a statement. It is expected that the crime will be solved and the perpetrators will be held accountable.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) described the attack as a serious act of violence and a serious attack on democracy. Labor Minister Hubertus Heil also expressed his horror at the attack on his party colleague:
The attack on MEP Ecke is “an unmistakable alarm signal to all people in this country. Our democratic values are under attack,” explained the chairmen of the SPD Saxony, Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel. “The series of attacks by thugs on poster teams of democratic parties are an attack on the foundations of our democracy.”
Also attack on Campaign aides the Greens
Minutes before the attack on Ecke, according to the police, a group of four attacked a Green Party campaign worker 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.
Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) condemned the attacks and said they should not be tolerated. “Each of these attacks affects us all, it is about nothing less than our free, equal, universal, direct and secret elections,” he said. The protection of officials and elected officials is a high priority for the Ministry of the Interior. Schuster called the current increase in attacks worrying.
Green Party politician attacked in Essen
Recently, attacks on politicians have increased. Two Green Party politicians were attacked in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, on Thursday evening. One of the two was slightly injured, the police said on Friday evening. The state security agency has started an investigation because it could be a politically motivated act.
According to police, the two politicians are the Green Party member of the Bundestag Kai Gehring and the third mayor of Essen, Rolf Fliß. Both were approached by a group of passers-by in the city on Thursday evening. According to the police, an argument broke out in which Fliß was hit in the face. In addition, both politicians were said to have been insulted, the officials said.
Faeser: “Attack against our democracy”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) later spoke on the online service X of another “attack against our democracy”. “Whether in the east, west, north or south, in the country or in the city: all democrats must confront this increasing climate of violence.” This begins with “verbal disarmament.”
The departure of the company car of Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) in Brandenburg was also recently violently blocked. The car in which Göring-Eckardt and her driver were sitting was only able to move off when the police called for backup.