German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Union leaders condemned the current sequence of assaults on politicians in Germany on Saturday. This included the recent assault on European Parliament candidate Matthias Ecke, who was hospitalized on Friday. One in every of his attackers surrendered to police custody on Sunday.
Ecke, 41, is a European Parliament member for the Social Democrat Get together (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). He was attacked on Saturday whereas hanging up posters forward of June’s European Parliament elections by 4 males and was severely injured, requiring surgical procedure. Investigators stated a political motive was suspected. A 17-year-old turned himself early Sunday morning, confessing to the crime.
Scholz spoke out in opposition to the violence in a press conference, saying, “We must not ever permit ourselves to grow to be comfy with acts of violence like these.” He continued, “Democracy is threatened by acts like these, which is why shrugging them off isn’t an choice. We should arise collectively.” Many different European Parliament candidates and members have additionally expressed sympathy and outrage, including Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parlaiment.
This was solely the newest in a sequence of assaults on politicians in Germany. The police have confirmed {that a} 28-year-old man had been “punched” and “kicked” whereas placing up posters earlier within the day on the identical avenue that Ecke was attacked on. It’s believed that this assault was by the identical group.
A number of commentators have famous that the assaults have primarily focused left-wing politicians and suspect a far-right motive. Extremist events, primarily the Different for Germany (AfD) get together, have risen in recognition in recent times. They’re now the second hottest get together in Germany after the Christian Democrats. The Saxony Social Democrat department has blamed the AfD for the assaults: “Their supporters at the moment are utterly disinhibited and apparently see us democrats as honest recreation.” The AfD have responded that they’re the sufferer of a hate marketing campaign by the media and political institution.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
