The attack on the Slovak Prime Minister, seriously injured by bullets on May 15, particularly moved the political class, particularly in Poland and Germany, where violence and death threats have significantly intensified. Explanations from our correspondents.
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The attack on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday May 15, 2024, was particularly worrying in Poland where the political scene is increasingly polarized and violent. It must be said that after the years in power of the far-right party – defeated in the last legislative elections in December 2023, violence has taken root in the speeches.
In Germany, the number of attacks against politicians increased sharply in 2023 and the statistics are alarming. So much so that to put up posters for Europeans, instructions recommend doing it in broad daylight and in groups of at least four people.
In Poland, increasingly polarized debates
First of all, it was the emotion that gripped Poland after the attack on the Slovak Prime Minister. Prime Minister Donald Tusk quickly spoke on the social network X, but the moment of contemplation was short. On the Internet, the head of the Polish government quickly received death threats, messages that have unfortunately become common in recent years, as the political debate has become increasingly polarized. The last campaign for the legislative elections, which saw the victory of the center-right candidate in December 2023, is also symbolic of this increase in violence in political discourse. The verbal jousts were unleashed on social networks. Political figures from both camps insulted each other through tweets, most often calling each other anti-Polish, pro-Russian, or traitors in the pay of the Germans.
A 30-page report was published by an association against hate speech. Anti-Semitism, homophobia, xenophobia, anti-Ukrainian statements, words can be shocking. In an exchange with a journalist, one of the candidates of the far-right Konfederacja party, Dobromir Sośnierz, opposed the EU’s reception of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea in these terms: “The border guard should shoot in the air to make them leave. But you have to shoot them if necessary.” And when the journalist asks if he would shoot women and children, the candidate replies: “Yes, I would shoot women and children too. Why women should be excluded ? We talk about equality, if a woman breaks the law, we must treat her like a man.”
The arrival of Konfederacja on the political scene, considered even more extreme than the Law and Justice party (PiS), has thus polarized speeches and ideas a little more. It must be said that during the 8 years of PiS government, hate speech gradually became the norm in the country.
All this verbal violence, which has gradually become commonplace, sometimes turns into physical violence, as in 2019. During a large Christmas charity concert, Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of the large city of Gdansk, in the north of the country, was stabbed to death on stage. The assassin said he killed the mayor because the government of Donald Tusk, already in office just before PiS came to power, had put him in prison, where he said he was tortured.
In Germany, crimes against elected officials almost doubled in 2023
In Germany, official statistics published Tuesday May 21, 2024, counted 3,700 offenses against politicians in 2023, including 80 acts of violence. These are 15 more attacks in one year, and 1,700 more crimes than in 2022. The violent attack at the beginning of May by MEP Matthias Ecke deeply shocked Germany. The social democrat was brutally attacked while putting up posters for the European elections, by a group of four young people close to the extreme right. They had attacked a Green candidate a few hours earlier.
Other cases had previously also caused a lot of ink to flow. The plan to attempt to kidnap the Minister of Health, by opponents of vaccination, or even this group of farmers and supporters of the far-right AfD party, armed with pitchforks, who wanted to attack the minister Green Economy on his return from vacation. The country also remains marked by the assassination of prefect Lübcke, in 2019, shot dead at his home by a neo-Nazi, due to the elected official’s favorable position on welcoming migrants.
Crimes affect local elected officials en masse. Arson, death threats, swastikas sprayed on walls, attacks on an elected official at the supermarket, the President of the Bundestag strongly denounced these acts before Parliament: “Our liberal democracy loses when politically engaged people withdraw out of fear. People who put up election posters today, or run information stands, are exposed to anger and hatred, sometimes to the point of physical attack. Local elected officials are often faced with attempts at intimidation, which can go as far as death threats. The consequence is that some municipalities no longer find a mayor. Most parties have given their supporters new instructions for the European campaign: put up posters during the day, and always in groups of at least four people.