German Lawmaker Attacked in Dresden

Matthias Ecke, top candidate for the German Social Democrats (spd), was attacked in Dresden on May 3 by what appeared to be far-right extremists. A small group of men punched and kicked Ecke while he was putting up campaign posters, police said. He suffered broken bones and was unresponsive, according to Bild. He will remain hospitalized for at least a week.

The attack happened after a 28-year-old man was beaten while hanging up posters for the Green Party in the same area, police said.

Such incidents are a threat to democracy, and for that reason a complacent shrug of the shoulders is never an option. Olaf Scholz, German chancellor

Authorities are also investigating two other attacks on politicians in Essen, Germany, that occurred earlier last week.

Far-right violence: spd leader Henning Homan called Friday’s attack an “unignorable alarm signal to everyone in this country.”

“Violence and intimidation against democrats are the means of the fascists,” the spd wrote on X.

In response to the attack, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday to protest right-wing extremism and violence.

In 2023, about 1,219 attacks on members of the Greens were recorded, significantly more than the 478 attacks on members of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.

We’ve seen this before: While the attacks are relatively few, many are worried they will only increase and intensify.

Before World War ii, the Nazis used violence against their political opponents to aid their rise to power. Is history repeating itself?

To learn more, read “Echoes of the 1930s.”