Attack on SPD politician: Faeser announces tough action

Federal politicians have expressed their dismay at an attack on the Saxon MEP Matthias Ecke (SPD) while he was putting up posters in Dresden. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) declared on Saturday that she condemned the serious act of violence in the strongest terms. At the same time, she announced tough action by the rule of law.

Faeser said: "If a politically motivated attack on MEP Matthias Ecke is confirmed just a few weeks before the European elections, then this serious act of violence is also a serious attack on democracy. We are experiencing a new dimension of anti-democratic violence here." She added that extremists and populists, who are fomenting a growing climate of violence with completely unrestricted verbal hostility towards democratic politicians, are partly responsible for the increasing frequency of attacks. "The constitutional state must and will respond to this with tough action and further protective measures for the democratic forces in our country. I will discuss this very quickly with the interior ministers of the federal states."

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday: "All democratic parties must stand against violence. The truth is that the AfD has been sowing hatred and incitement for years in a way that we have never seen before in politics; it causes violence." Green Party leader Ricarda Lang wrote on the platform that violence in the election campaign is an attack on democracy and therefore on us all. She expressed her full solidarity with Ecke.

FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said on X: "I am stunned that people who are committed to our democracy are increasingly at risk of being attacked. We have a responsibility to society as a whole to take action against this. CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann wrote on X. "We condemn this brutal attack in the strongest possible terms." Linnemann added: "We democrats will not be intimidated by the enemies of democracy."

Ecke was seriously injured and treated in hospital. While putting up election posters for the SPD late on Friday evening, four unknown persons attacked the 41-year-old, police said on Saturday.