Participants in a rally in Dresden’s Bolandplatz
©APA/dpa
After the brutal attack on German SPD MEP Matthias Ecke in Dresden, thousands gathered in the Saxon capital and Berlin for solidarity demonstrations against right-wing violence. “Take a stand against hate and violence: our democracy cannot be threatened!” A rally was held in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Sunday evening under the theme. instead.
An AFP reporter said at least 2,000 people took part. A Berlin police spokesman spoke of a number of participants in the “low four-digit range”. Among the participants were politicians such as SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Green Party leader Ricarda Lang.
Klingbeil held the AfD partly responsible for the violent climate. AfD politicians Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke and federal party leader Alice Weidel “didn’t strike directly,” he told demonstrators. “But I’m telling you, they’ve helped create a social climate in this country that makes other people lash out at volunteers, activists, politicians and politicians.”
“It’s important for her to do something about the fact that this hatred is flooding people, judging people and everything,” said a 65-year-old protester. It “shouldn’t be easy”.
In Dresden, around 3,000 demonstrators gathered in the city center following a call by parties and civil society organizations, a police spokesman said. The list of speakers included Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU), SPD leader Saskia Esken and Bundestag Vice President Katrin Goering-Eckard (Greens).
Ecke, an SPD politician, was attacked by four criminals while hanging election posters in Dresden on Friday and, according to the party, was injured badly enough to require surgery. The attack caused shock among the party members. The State Security Police took over the investigation.
The Saxon State Criminal Police Office (LKA) announced on Sunday that a 17-year-old boy had reported himself as one of the perpetrators. The youth had never appeared before the police. On Sunday evening online service X said Saxon police had yet to comment on the 17-year-old’s motive for the crime. The search for the rest of the culprits continued.
Shortly before the attack on Ecke, a 28-year-old man was attacked and injured in Dresden while putting up election posters for the Green Party. It was only on Friday that two Green Party politicians were attacked in Essen in North Rhine-Westphalia – Bundestag member Kai Gehring and Essen’s third mayor, Rolf Fliß. Fliß was hit in the face and suffered minor injuries in the incident on Thursday evening.