This second attack on a political figure is already raising concerns about an increase in political violence in Germany, with just a month to go until the European Parliament elections.
Frankziska Giffey, the city’s main economic authority, former mayor and former federal minister, was attacked at an event that took place in a Berlin library on Tuesday, when a man approached her from behind and hit her with a suitcase. which contained a rigid device, police described.
The alleged perpetrator of the attack on Giffey has already been identified, but no further details have been provided.
Berlin mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the attack. “Anyone who attacks politicians is attacking our democracy,” said Wegner, quoted by German news agency DPA.
“We will not tolerate this. We will oppose all forms of violence, hatred and unrest and protect our democracy,” he added.
Last week, a candidate for Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) was beaten in the eastern city of Dresden while campaigning for next month’s European Parliament elections and had to undergo surgery.
Police detained four suspects aged between 17 and 18 and said that the same group also attacked an employee of the Os Verdes Party minutes before attacking Matthias Ecke.
According to security authorities, at least one of the teenagers is linked to far-right groups.
Also on Tuesday, another politician from the Os Verdes Party was attacked by two people while putting up election posters in Dresden, the DPA reported.
The incidents increased political tensions in Germany.
Both the Government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months and have called on the police to reinforce the protection of politicians and security at election rallies.
In February, the German parliament said in a report that there had been a total of 2,790 attacks on elected officials in 2023.
Representatives of the Greens were the most affected, with 1,219 cases, while those of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party were the target of 478 attacks and the SPD of 420.
The country’s vice-chancellor, Robert Habeck, who is a member of the Greens, was prevented in January from disembarking a ferry for hours by a group of angry farmers, and the vice-president of the German parliament, Katrin Goering- Eckardt, also from the Greens, was prevented from leaving an event in the state of Brandenburg last week when an angry mob blocked her car.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser advocated, following a special meeting with the country’s 16 state interior ministers on the issue of violence held on Tuesday, a tightening of Germany’s criminal law in order to “punish undemocratic acts more severely.”
Many of the incidents took place in the former communist east of the country, where Scholz’s government is very unpopular.
The Saxon state Ministry of the Interior said it had recorded 112 election-related crimes this year, including 30 against elected officials or representatives.
One of Germany’s main parties, the AfD, has links to violent neo-Nazi groups that foster an intimidating political climate.
One of its leaders, Bjoern Hoecke, is currently on trial for using a banned Nazi slogan.
The Alternative for Germany, which campaigns against immigration and European integration, has increased voting intentions in European polls, as well as in elections in Saxony and two other eastern German states.
