German MEP is seriously injured in ‘far right attack’ in Dresden while he puts up posters before teenager turns himself in over the assault
A teenager has turned himself in for assaulting a German member of the European Parliament, who was seriously injured in an “extreme right-wing attack” while he was putting up posters in Dresden.
Matthias Ecke, 41, was attacked on Friday evening and required surgery after being attacked by a group of four young men, his Social Democratic Party (SDP) announced on Saturday.
A 17-year-old has now turned himself in to police in Germany, claiming to be “the perpetrator who knocked down the SPD politician,” officers said in a statement on Sunday morning.
“He admitted to the act, but did not go further,” police spokeswoman Silvaine Reiche said.
According to the Saxony State Criminal Investigation Department (LKA), the search continues for the remaining three suspects, who are all believed to be young men between the ages of 17 and 20.
Matthias Ecke, 41, was attacked on Friday evening and required surgery after being ambushed by a group of four young men in what is believed to have been a ‘far-right attack’.
Ecke, a member of the European Parliament for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SDP, was attacked by four assailants while putting up EU election posters in the Striesen district, according to police.
Scholz condemned the attack on Saturday as a threat to democracy, saying: “We should never accept such acts of violence.”
The lawmaker is currently the top candidate in Saxony for the European Parliament elections in June.
“The attack on Matthias Ecke is an unmistakable alarm signal for all people in this country,” Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, chairmen of the SPD branch in Saxony, said in the statement.
‘Our democratic values are under attack.’
The statement also claimed there had been other attempts at intimidation and the destruction of posters, as German police continued their investigation into the attack.
The SDP pointed the finger at supporters of the far-right Alliance for Germany (AfD) party for the attack on Ecke.
“Their supporters are now completely disinhibited and apparently see us Democrats as fair game,” the statement said.
Following the shocking incident, anti-far-right protests have erupted across Berlin as the group is believed to have also attacked a member of the Green Party, who was also campaigning just minutes before attacking Ecke, reports DW.
Participants gather for a demonstration against the far right and to condemn attacks on politicians at Pariser Platz square in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on May 5, 2024
A 17-year-old turned himself in to police in Germany early May 5, 2024, following an attack on a lawmaker in Dresden, which the country’s leaders labeled a threat to democracy
A participant shows a sign ‘Dresden criminals – willing accomplices of (AfD politician Bjoern) Hoecke’ during a demonstration against the far right and to condemn attacks on politicians
Police revealed that a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been ‘hit’ and ‘kicked’ on the same street in Dresden.
The groups Zusammen gegen Rechts (Together against the Right) and Wir sind die Brandmauer Dresden (We are the firewall Dresden) called for protests in Berlin and Dresden on Sunday.
According to initial police reports, more than 1,000 people attended the demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate in solidarity with the injured SDP politician.
Green Party chairmen Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, SPD Secretary General Kevin Kühnert, as well as the Prime Ministers of Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia Michael Kretschmer and Hendrik Wüst also appeared at the protest , according to local reports. declared.
Last week, two Green deputies were verbally abused while campaigning in Essen, West Germany, and another was ambushed in her car by several protesters in the east of the country.
The German Association of Cities has now called for stricter penalties for attacks on politicians.
“We must better protect politically active people,” city council chairman Markus Lewe told the Düsseldorf Rheinische Post.
Lewe demanded that attacks on politicians must be “consistently prosecuted and punished” by the police and judiciary.
According to Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser plans to convene a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to tackle violence against politicians.