- author, paul kirby
- role, BBC News
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A Berlin senator and former mayor was attacked by a man in his local library, the latest in a series of assaults on German politicians.
Franziska Giffy, a prominent figure in Germany's centre-left SPD, was hit in the head and neck with a bag “filled with hard objects” and was briefly treated in hospital, police said.
Politicians and campaign workers have been targeted in recent days, particularly in eastern Germany.
Last Friday, a leading candidate for next month's European elections was seriously injured while putting up posters in Dresden.
Matthias Ecke, 41, was attacked by four people and had to undergo surgery in hospital. Four teenagers are currently under investigation, and at least one has confirmed links to the far right.
A Green Party campaign worker in the city was punched and kicked moments earlier.
Separately, a female Green Party lawmaker in Dresden was attacked by two people on Tuesday night while she was putting up a poster.
Dresden police said the two suspects, a man and a woman, were part of a group that was giving a Hitler salute when they started putting up election posters.
Colleagues were shocked by the attack on Franziska Giffy, Berlin's economics senator. Giffy served as minister for women and families in Chancellor Angela Merkel's last federal government, and she became mayor of Berlin in 2021.
Giffy later wrote on Instagram that she visited the Art Rudow Library in the Neukölln district of southeastern Berlin because it was a special place for her. ”
The former mayor of Berlin said he was shocked that politically engaged people were increasingly becoming “legitimate targets” for attacks, adding: “There is no legitimacy to these attacks. No boundaries have been crossed. As a society, we must firmly resist it.”
Police said they had identified the person believed to be responsible, but did not provide further details.
Fellow centre-left senator Iris Spranger condemned the series of assaults on all politicians and campaign workers, “all of whom are committed to a strong democracy.”
Federal and state interior ministers met on Tuesday to consider how to respond to the attack.
Brandenburg state minister Michael Stuebgen, who chairs the council of interior ministers, told reporters that the criminal code no longer provides sufficient protection for politicians and activists.
“Unfortunately, we have been seeing this spiral for years, and this year we are faced with a spiral of violent physical attacks against female and male politicians,” he said on local radio in Berlin. .I'm very concerned about this.''
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is aiming for second place in the European Parliament elections on June 9th and hopes to become the leading party in September's eastern German state elections. .
However, it has been hit with suspicions of spying, and an aide to a leading EU candidate has been detained.