2024-05-04 15:50:00
Attack in Saxony: According to the party, the SPD’s top candidate for the European elections, Matthias Ecke, is attacked and seriously injured while posting posters in Dresden. The SPD Saxony announced on Saturday that he needed an operation. The incident occurred on Friday evening on the street in the Striesen district.
Four unknown people beat the 41-year-old while he was putting up election posters for the SPD late on Friday evening, as the police said. He had to receive medical care in the hospital. There were further attempts at intimidation, poster destruction and insults from other poster teams.
According to Tagesspiegel information, Ecke was attacked around 10 p.m. He wasn’t traveling alone. An SPD spokesman did not want to provide any information about the nature of his injury. Security circles speak of a serious facial injury. Ecke is said to still be in the hospital.
According to police, the attackers are: young men between 17 and 20 years old. According to witness statements, all four were dressed in dark clothing, a police spokesman said on Saturday. A Witness assigned the attackers to the right-wing spectrum. The investigation would show whether that was true.
After the attack, the State Criminal Police Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force took over the investigation. The Saxon Interior Ministry announced this on Saturday.
The perpetrators want to intimidate us as representatives of a democratic society. But they will never succeed.
Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil, SPD federal chairwoman
The SPD Saxony is now tightening its security measures. In the future, members should no longer hang posters alone, but rather travel in groups of four or five so that they can react to possible attacks. In addition, the police are informed in advance about poster campaigns.
The attack on the MEP Ecke was “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.
Green campaign workers were also attacked
“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.
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.
The SPD federal chairmen Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil strongly condemned the attack. “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, said Esken and Klingbeil. Other politicians also showed up shocked by the incidents and demanded consequences.
Further attacks on politicians from the Greens and the AfD
There were further attacks on politicians: on Saturday morning there was one AfD member of the state parliament attacked at an information stand in Nordhorn. A 29-year-old first drove past the AfD stand in a boat with a woman, both of whom had Eggs thrown in the direction of the booth and the MPsaid a police statement. However, the eggs initially missed their target.
About half an hour later, the two people returned to the stand on foot and wearing masks, it said. The 29-year-old from Nordhorn aimed again with an egg and hit the politician in the head. When he wanted to confront the accused, he had him insulted and hit him in the face. The deputy was slightly injured.
Just on Friday, two Green Party politicians were attacked in Essen in North Rhine-Westphalia. Bundestag member Kai Gehring and his party colleague Rolf Fliß said they were attacked after a party event.
More on the topic at Tagesspiegel Plus
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Gehring announced on his Facebook page on Friday evening: “Last evening, what was typical for us, a random and initially friendly conversation with citizens, suddenly turned into nasty insults against both of us and a spontaneous physical attack against Rolf Fliß.”
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