Germany
Franziska Giffey. — © Metodi Popow/imago
Franziska Giffey, former mayor of Berlin, has been slightly injured after someone attacked her. This is yet another victim of political violence in Germany.
The violence against Giffey – who belongs to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD – took place in the Rudow district, in the south of the German capital. In a library, Giffey was hit from behind with a heavily filled bag on her head and shoulders, police and public prosecutors in Berlin said. The Federal Police opened an investigation and a suspect was arrested.
In a response on social media, Giffey criticized “the culture in which politicians are seen as game to be hunted.” “People who are politically active and committed in our country are increasingly exposed to allegedly justified and acceptable attacks.”
It is far from the first case of political violence in the run-up to the European elections. Last Friday, SPD candidate Matthias Ecke suffered fractures to his face after he was attacked by four perpetrators. The police suspect extreme right-wing motives in the case of a seventeen-year-old young man who turned himself in. This also applies to two other suspects who have since been arrested.
