German teen turns self in after attack on politician
- Matthias Ecke, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters
- Ecke, the latest politician attacked, was seriously injured and needed an operation
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.
The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden on 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.