Attacks on politicians pose a threat to German democracy
The encouraging news is that Matthias Ecke is recovering well after surgery for a broken cheekbone and eye socket. Better news again is that, despite a vicious attack by four youths in Dresden, the German socialist MEP intends to resume his re-election campaign for the European Parliament as soon as possible.
German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported this week that the attack happened while the 41-year-old, deemed a rising star in politics, was putting up election posters.
It also said the incident was part of an alarming trend of menaces and violence against mainstream politicians of many parties. It is understood police are looking at ways of stepping up candidates’ security before the European election in Germany on June 9.
Political parties are also reviewing their security arrangements. Four suspects, aged 17 and 18, have been identified in connection with the attack on Ecke.
Politicians and activists are being advised to not go out alone, speak calmly to people confronting them and avoid responding to provocation.
DW did a round-up of incidents and concluded that Ecke’s case is just the tip of the iceberg, with local politicians in particular being regularly attacked, threatened and insulted.
The situation mirrors recent incidents in Ireland, including the gathering of people in balaclavas with offensive posters at the home of Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman. There was also the evacuation of Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s family from their home after a bomb threat and a gathering of people with placards outside Taoiseach Simon Harris’s house.
Germany, in common with other continental European countries, has a history of street violence related to politics. Recent threats and incidents echo darker days.
Max Reschke, the former leader of the Green Party in the eastern state of Thuringia, told
DW things have worsened in recent years, with attacks on party offices and threats to politicians. He has called for more police protection for politicians.
Things tend to heat up around election time. In Essen, a major city in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, two Green Party politicians were recently insulted and then physically attacked.
In Brandenburg on May 1, demonstrators attacked the car of national parliament vicepresident Katrin Goering-Eckardt, a member of the Green Party, and blocked her progress.
In Gotha, a city in central Thuringia, a socialist politician’s house was set on fire in February after he had organised a demonstration against right-wing extremists.
In a survey of 6,400 mayors across Germany, 40pc said they or people close to them had been insulted, threatened or physically attacked. Some admitted they had thought of abandoning politics as a result.
Sven Tetzlaff is head of the Democracy and Cohesion Department at the Korber Foundation, which organises social and political projects. He told DW that social media had driven this degradation of public interaction, with people goading each other to more extreme language and attitudes.
In 2021, the Korber Foundation and local authorities launched “Stark im Amt” (“Strong in Office”) as an online portal linking 3,000 local politicians. Here they share and discuss strategies to prevent and combat threats including online hate speech.
Tetzlaff is worried the recent attack in Dresden could spur local politicians to quit. This would further embolden extremists engaged in this reprehensible conduct and give them a message that they are succeeding.
“If we no longer have confidence locally that this democratic state will continue to function,” he said, “we really do have a massive problem in Germany.”