After an attack on a German MEP in Dresden, his party warned against treating the incident as an isolated incident as hundreds took to the streets in the eastern German city in solidarity with the seriously injured lawmaker.
“It is very clear that this willingness to use violence did not arise in a vacuum,” said Saskia Esken, chairwoman of the SPD, before a rally on Sunday afternoon in Dresden.
A 17-year-old turned himself in to the police on Sunday after Matthias Ecke, who represents the SPD in the European Parliament, was attacked during election work on Friday evening.
The young person reported to the Dresden police early on Sunday morning and told the officers that he had physically attacked the politician, said the State Criminal Police Office (LKA).
The investigation is ongoing and the police are working to confirm the teenager’s statements, said an LKA spokeswoman.
Ecke was brutally beaten by a four-man gang on Friday evening as he hung campaign posters in the eastern German city.
He was taken to hospital on Sunday and underwent surgery, said Saxon SPD leader Henning Homann.
Ecke suffered a fracture of his cheekbone and eye socket as well as bruises on his face, but he is doing well under the circumstances, according to his party colleague.
Witnesses described the attackers as wearing dark clothing and said they appeared to be part of the right-wing extremist scene.
According to the police, the three other suspects are still unknown. They are believed to be young men between the ages of 17 and 20.
Ecke is the SPD’s top candidate in Saxony for the European elections in June. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2022.
The attack shocked the country and sparked outrage in Germany. Politicians from various parties condemned the violence and warned of a threat to German democracy.
In her speech, SPD party leader Esken blamed the attack on the foundation for social division and anti-democratic messages from right-wing extremist parties and right-wing extremists.
“In this respect, these people who threatened to hunt us, to clean up and clear out this country, are also partly responsible for the social climate in which such acts are possible,” she said.
“We will counter this as a constitutional state, but of course also as a society and as political parties.”
A few minutes before Ecke’s attack, according to police, a group of four attackers also attacked a 28-year-old Green Party campaign worker as he was putting up posters in the same district of Dresden.
According to a Green Party activist who was with the politician at the time of the attack, he was punched several times before being kicked in the stomach and ribs as he lay on the ground.
“He suffered injuries, especially bruises,” Anne-Katrin Haubold told the news magazine “Der Spiegel” on Sunday. According to her account, the attack occurred on Friday evening shortly after 10 p.m. while putting up election posters in the Striesen district.
The police assume that the same perpetrators were responsible for the attack on Ecke that occurred shortly afterwards.
Demonstrators have called for demonstrations in Germany to denounce the attacks and defend Germany’s democratic values.
According to police and organizers, around 3,000 people took to the streets in Dresden’s Striesen district on Sunday afternoon to protest against violence and for democracy. SPD party leader Esken, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth from the Greens and Saxon Justice Minister Katja Meier also took part in the rally.
In Berlin, according to initial police estimates, more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered at the German capital’s famous Brandenburg Gate.
Meanwhile, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has reportedly sought an urgent meeting with her country-level counterparts to discuss additional security measures to prevent further political violence ahead of European Parliament elections in June.
There were several violent incidents nationwide during the election campaign, including on Thursday evening in the western German city of Essen, where Green Party state parliament member Kai Gehring was attacked along with his Green Party colleague Rolf Fliss after a party event.
According to police reports, a politician from the right-wing extremist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) was beaten at an information stand in the western German town of Nordhorn on Saturday morning.
The interior ministers of Germany’s 16 states are expected to meet next week to discuss the attacks. Faeser, an SPD colleague, called the meeting on Saturday, shortly after the police announced details of the attack on Ecke, the Tagesspiegel reported.
The Greens in eastern Saxony have already reacted to further attacks last weekend in Chemnitz and Zwickau and are no longer sending their members to post posters on their own initiative. After the attack on Ecke, other parties are also making similar considerations and requirements.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for joint action against right-wing extremism.
“Democracy is threatened by something like this, and that’s why shrugging your shoulders is never an option,” said Scholz on Saturday evening. “We have to take action against this together.”