In Dresden, three men beat a 23-year-old so badly that he had to be hospitalized. Saxony’s Minister of Justice warns of a return to the “baseball bat years.”
LEIPZIG taz | Three men beat a 23-year-old information stand attendant for the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) so badly that he had to be treated in hospital. He had been handing out flyers in Dresden city centre on Thursday when the altercation broke out. While the three men were beating the trade unionist, a woman also insulted him. The police took all four into custody. The chairman of the DGB Saxony called for harsh punishments. It was not the only attack on political activists in Dresden last week.
According to the police, it is still unclear what triggered the attack on the DGB employee. However, a racist motive cannot be ruled out. The victim had “dark skin,” the Dresden police department told taz. Several passers-by rushed to help the victim and informed the police.
The state security service is now investigating the three men, aged between 35 and 37, and the 37-year-old woman for dangerous bodily harm. The chairman of the DGB Saxony, Markus Schlimbach, said of the attack: “Physically attacking young people who are campaigning for more participation and solidarity at an information stand is pathetic and must be severely punished.”
Schlimbach said he expected the democratic parties in Saxony to take a clear stance against right-wing extremists and enemies of democracy. This was particularly important now, before the state elections in Saxony on September 1. Anyone who did not clearly distance themselves would be putting a stop to peaceful coexistence in Saxony.
Leftist threatened with machete
According to Saxony’s DGB head, violence is becoming an increasingly common means of conflict. The aim behind this is to intimidate civil society. According to Schlimbach, this is also shown by the “many attacks on election campaigners”.
One day earlier, on Wednesday, a 69-year-old threatened a Left Party campaign team in Dohna with a machete. The campaigners had distributed advertising material in the town about 20 kilometers south of Dresden. The man first threatened them with violence and demanded that they leave. He then pursued them with the machete, and the election workers fled.
The police have already identified the suspected perpetrator. He has no previous convictions and has confessed: Because the noise on the street bothered him, he approached the election workers with the weapon. According to the police, the “sword” was confiscated and the investigation into coercion is ongoing.
Attacks in Saxony
The fact that there have been repeated attacks on political activists in the Free State of Saxony is unacceptable to the Left Party leader Janine Wissler. “If people have to fear for their lives and health because they are handing out campaign leaflets, a free election campaign is hardly possible anymore,” she said indignantly. That is precisely the strategy of the right. Wissler demanded that the interior ministers “disarm the right-wing scene and break up right-wing extremist networks.”
Saxony’s Justice Minister Katja Meier (Greens) warns that the state could fall back into “the dark times of the baseball bat years,” when violence by neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists was literally part of everyday life in the 1990s. Currently, “unfortunately, not a week goes by without reports of attacks or threats against democratically committed people in Saxony,” warned Meier, who is also the Greens’ top candidate in the state elections on September 1.
For example, last week a Pirate Party campaign team in Dresden was threatened – allegedly by members of the so-called “Elbland Revolt”, as the Saxon Times reported. The right-wing extremist group became known in May after members attacked and injured the SPD’s top candidate Matthias Ecke while hanging posters.
The Saxon SPD also commented on the current attacks. In a joint statement, state chairmen Kathrin Michel and Henning Homann said: “We support our political competitors in their demand for a clear and decisive response from the constitutional state.” The past few months have shown that “quick investigations and timely court rulings are needed.” The constitutional state must leave no doubt that it defends democracy.
