Violent attacks on Giffey and Green Party campaigner

While the interior ministers are considering how to stop the violence against politicians, two more women are attacked. One of them is Franziska Giffey.

The series of brutal attacks on politicians shows no sign of stopping. As it became known on the night of today, an older man hit Berlin’s Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD) on the head without warning with a bag containing a hard object during an appointment in a library on Tuesday afternoon, injuring her light. In Dresden, the Green Party’s top candidate for city council, Yvonne Mosler, was jostled and threatened while hanging up election posters.

In both cases, the suspects were quickly identified, according to the public prosecutor’s office. According to the information, there are “evidences of mental illness” for the man who is said to have attacked Giffey. The 74-year-old was already known to the police and there were findings in the area of ​​hate crime, according to a joint statement from the Berlin public prosecutor’s office and the police. “However, investigations into the suspect’s motive behind yesterday’s attack are ongoing.”

The suspect has been temporarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital. “The decision to temporarily place the accused in a psychiatric hospital was issued and implemented in accordance with the application,” the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on X.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned the attacks on Berlin’s Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD) and other politicians as “outrageous and cowardly”. “Anyone who gets involved deserves respect,” wrote the SPD politician in a post on Platform X. Violence does not belong in democratic debate. “The decent and sensible people are clearly against it – and they are the majority!” said Scholz.

BKA boss concerned about number of physical attacks

BKA President Holger Münch expressed concern about the growing violence against politicians and campaign workers. The Federal Criminal Police Office counted 27 physical attacks on politicians last year, and 22 this year, said the head of the authority in Bremen. But the number of insults has also increased significantly. Nationwide, the Greens are most affected by insults, and the AfD by physical injuries.

Münch called for targeted measures with a view to the European elections and the local elections in some federal states on June 9th. The police cannot protect all politicians and campaign workers. “We must not be under the illusion that this will all end with police protection.”

Giffey wants to continue to have close exchanges with citizens

Giffey said on Instagram that she was concentrating on a conversation with the head of the library and then suddenly felt a hard blow to her head and neck from behind. “A man attacked me with a bag filled with hard contents.” The senator attended public appointments on Wednesday. She told journalists: “There will always be situations where people come together and where there are arguments. You can’t protect everything.” Politicians should not be shielded in such a way that they lose touch with the citizens.

In order to better protect politicians and volunteer campaigners against attacks, the federal and state interior ministers are relying on more police accompaniment and examining stricter criminal law. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the conference of interior ministers of the federal states called for an end to violence and agitation at a video conference on Tuesday evening.

The switch was scheduled after a brutal attack on SPD politician Matthias Ecke in Dresden last Friday. The Federal Ministry of Justice currently sees no concrete gaps in criminal liability, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. However, the suggestions made by the interior ministers will be “benevolently examined”.

Not everyone is convinced of harsher punishments

The deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Konstantin Kuhle, told the German Press Agency: “Harder punishments are quickly required – especially shortly after high-profile crimes have occurred.” However, police officers on site and a well-equipped, fast-working judiciary are much more effective. “Criminal law and criminal justice cannot be the repair shop for general social brutalization,” Kuhle pointed out.