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CRIME

Thousands clash over neo-Nazi march in Dortmund

Around 1,100 neo-Nazis gathered in Dortmund over the weekend for a big march through the western city on Saturday, attracting counter-demonstrators and conflict.

Published: 7 September 2008 11:09 CEST
Thousands clash over neo-Nazi march in Dortmund
Photo:DPA

Their march on Saturday attracted an estimated 1,500 people who demonstrated against it, including what police described as some 700 from leftist groups who took part in a separate demonstration, which had been denied official permission.

The mainstream anti-fascist demonstration attracted many regional politicians, with Social Democrat (SPD) general secretary Michael Groschek calling for Dortmund citizens to set a “sign for democracy and diversity and against national socialism and xenophobia.”

Police said that as the evening drew in, trouble started between the right wing extremists and their opponents, as well as officers who tried to keep them apart.

Six neo-Nazis and 47 left-wingers were arrested, police reported.

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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