Arnsdorf in Saxony had made headlines three years ago after a self-proclaimed vigilante had tied a mentally ill refugee to a tree. The trial of the four perpetrators was stopped shortly after the beginning. Nevertheless, calm did not return: Now the mayoress Martina Angermann (SPD) sees herself forced to give up her position - as a result of radical right-wing incitement against her person. This is reported by the MDR.
According to the local administration confirmed that Angermann had filed an application for early retirement. She has apparently pre-empted an AFD application for her vote.
According to the "Sächsische Zeitung", the Saxon SPD condemned the incitement against the mayor. "For months, she has been verbally attacked, threatened and tried to intimidate her by an ad. She should simply be made ready," said SPD Secretary General Henning Homann the newspaper. "We must not allow right-wing campaigns to question our democratic values and cohesion - something that should not happen." There was an ad for defamation against the politician.
Angermann was mayor of Arnsdorf since 2001, thus also at the time of the attack on the Iraqi people. She severely condemned the incident and received death threats. At that time also the today's AfD local council Detlef Oelsner was involved, writes the "Saxonian newspaper".
There is a video of the incident on May 21, 2016. On it several men can be seen, who pull the Iraqi from the supermarket. In the background, a woman's voice can be heard with the words: "It is a pity that you need a vigilante." The attackers are said to have tied the Iraqi with cable ties and pushed them to the ground and finally tied them to a tree. The perpetrators had presented their behavior as self-defense.