Head of the SPD list in the Saxony region for the European elections in June, Matthias Ecke was hit by four strangers in a street in Dresden, while he was putting up posters.
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The affair shocked the country. A 17-year-old teenager surrendered to the authorities in Germany on Sunday, May 5, claiming to be one of the perpetrators of the violent attack on Friday against a Social Democratic MEP in the campaign, German police announced. The young man went to police in Dresden, eastern Germany, and claimed to be “the attacker who hit the SPD politician”the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Head of the SPD list in the Saxony region for the European elections, Matthias Ecke was beaten by four strangers in a street in Dresden, while he was putting up posters for the June election, the police detailed in their communicated. Seriously injured, the 41-year-old elected official had to be hospitalized and operated on, according to his party. Just before this attack, a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Green party, in the same street, was also beaten. “punching and kicking”according to the police, who suspect the same group of attackers.
On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack on Matthias Ecke, ensuring that attacks against elected officials “threatened” democracy. “We must never accept such acts of violence”, did he declare. The attack on the SPD MEP comes after several other acts of violence against German politicians. According to the daily TagesspiegelGerman Interior Minister Nancy Faeser plans to convene a special conference with her counterparts from the country’s regions to tackle violence against elected officials.
