Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise Franziska Giffey has been attacked at a library in the Rudow neighbourhood of Berlin.

Former Berlin mayor hospitalised after attack

Berlin Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise and former mayor Franziska Giffey was briefly treated in hospital on May 7, police have announced, after being attacked at a library in Rudow.

Police said that a man attacked the SPD politician “from behind with a bag filled with hard contents. [Giffey’s] head and neck were hit and she suffered light injuries. The assailant then fled the scene.”

Afterwards, Giffey received “outpatient treatment for head and neck pain,” police said.

Increased attacks on German politician in past week

The attack on Giffey is another of many attacks on German politicians in the past five days. On May 3, Mathias Ecke, MEP for Olaf Scholz’s SPD, was assaulted by a group while putting up posters in Dresden, Saxony. Four teenagers are now being investigated for the assault after one handed themselves in to police on May 5.

Another incident followed in Dresden on May 7, during which Greens politician Yvonna Mosler was threatened and spat on by a 34-year-old man and 24-year-old woman while hanging campaign posters ahead of the European election beginning on June 6. 

A combination of crises both in Germany and overseas has led to rising political tensions in the federal republic in the lead-up to the European elections, in which the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) predicts a “sharp turn to the right”. In a bid to win the votes of young people, Germany's right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has ramped up campaigns on TikTok ahead of the poll.

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