Scholz urges concerted effort against violence after attacks on MPs
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on citizens to take a stance against violence following a series of attacks on politicians in the lead-up to the European elections in June.
"Violence threatens democracy, and that is why we must stand together as citizens against it," the Social Democrat told around 180 guests at a talk organized by German media organization Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) in Potsdam near Berlin on Saturday.
The chancellor's comments come following a brutal attack on the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) leading candidate for the European elections in the state of Saxony, Matthias Ecke.
On May 3, Ecke was putting up posters in the eastern city of Dresden when he was beaten so badly he had to be taken to hospital. Just moments earlier, a lawmaker from the Green Party was also assaulted while putting up posters in the same neighbourhood.
On Tuesday, a man hit Berlin's top economic official, Franziska Giffey of the SPD, on the back of the head in a public library, while the leading Green Party candidate for city council, Yvonne Mosler, was jostled and threatened while putting up election posters in Saxony's capital Dresden.
"All of this is unacceptable under any circumstances - regardless of which party it is directed against," Scholz said at Saturday's event.
"We must not shrug our shoulders and think it won't be so bad," he warned. While admitting that the security services must play their part, he said that it was also important for civil society to take a stand.
