German chancellor condemns spate of violence against politicians ahead of June elections

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Insights from Frankfurter Allgemeine, Zeit Online, and Tagesspiegel

The News

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned a spate of attacks against the country’s politicians Wednesday after a Berlin senator was assaulted in a library, stoking fears of political violence ahead of European and local elections in June.

Franziska Giffey, the former mayor of Berlin and its top economic official, was briefly admitted to the hospital on Tuesday after being hit over the head with a bag containing hard material, the Berlin prosecutor’s office said. A 74-year-old man was later arrested.

“The attacks on Franziska Giffey and other politicians are outrageous and cowardly,” Scholz said. “Violence does not belong in a democratic debate.”

In a separate incident on Tuesday, two people were detained for attacking a Green party politician in Dresden, police in the German state of Saxony said, while two other campaigners were attacked and injured in the eastern city last week.

Although most of the attacks have been on the parties in the governing coalition, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — the second most-popular party according to recent polls — has also been targeted.

SIGNALS

Politicians at all levels are targets for violence

Sources:  Frankfurter Allgemeine, Zeit Online

From members of the European Parliament being beaten up to local organizers facing abuse, the rise in physical harassment has touched all parts of German political life. The Free Democratic Party has advised its grassroots members not to campaign alone in public, and a growing number of parties have set up dedicated hotlines for members who have been attacked, Frankfurter Allgemeine reported. “I’m looking over my shoulder more often again,” Stefan Dietrich, a local SPD politician, told Zeit Online. As his face starts to appear on posters and advertisements in the run-up to Germany’s local elections in June, he is concerned that he will be recognized by people who may be out to target politicians. “There’s always risk involved,” he told the news outlet.

Many Germans blame the rise of the far right

Sources:  Associated Press, Tagesspiegel, BBC

Mainstream German parties have placed the blame for the wave of violence on the far right, saying that the AfD has created a political environment that encourages intimidation and even violence. The perpetrators of one of the most high-profile attacks were members of extremist organizations, and investigators searching their apartments found far-right propaganda along with a baseball mat bearing an extremist slogan, Tagesspiegel reported. Germany’s far-right extremist networks have deep ties to the AfD, a BBC investigation found, a claim the AfD has repeatedly rejected. One intelligence official told the BBC that the party now poses a threat to the “roots” of democracy, as its popularity has surged in recent months.