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CRIME

Germany sees record level of neo-Nazi violence in 2007

A record number of people in Germany were injured in right-wing extremist attacks in 2007, according to former German government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye.

Published: 10 March 2008 17:44 CET
Germany sees record level of neo-Nazi violence in 2007
Photo: dpa

Heye, a co-founder of Gesicht Zeigen!, an organization working against right-wing violence, said in Berlin on Monday that 2007 was a new “negative record” year, with some 600 injuries attributed to racist attacks. Since German reunification in 1990, Heye said 130 asylum seekers, immigrants, and homeless people have been killed in such crimes by right-wing extremists.

Eastern German states have experienced the greatest rise in neo-Nazi attacks, Heye said. In the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds the city-state of Berlin, there were 11 attacks on immigrant-run businesses in 2007.

“Behind this lies the neo-Nazi’s goal-oriented strategy to destroy livelihoods and drive out immigrants,” he said, adding that the financial costs are immense. “Nazis destroy jobs too,” he said.

Heye spoke at an event to kick off a Gesicht Zeigen! campaign against racism. Some 120 events in March call for more civic courage against right-wing activity.

Heye, who was government spokesman between 1998 to 2002, criticized the lack of government spending on the victims of right-wing extremist crimes, particularly emphasizing their need for professional psychological care.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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