As of: February 28, 2024, 8:12 p.m
By: Kilian Beck
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Violence against politicians has been escalating for a long time.
Merseburg state parliament member Sebastian Striegel talks about the effects and causes of the current situation.
Merseburg - Masked people put up a gravestone in front of the office of Green politician Sebastian Striegel on Wednesday night (February 28th).
This was confirmed by the Halle police station responsible for protecting the Merseburg constituency office when asked by
IPPEN.MEDIA.
The 42-year-old is the domestic policy spokesman for the Greens in Saxony-Anhalt.
Whether the state security agency will investigate is currently being examined.
Such incidents are “unfortunately nothing new,” said Striegel in an interview with our editorial team.
Such threats from politicians have been occurring again and again in East Germany “for many years.”
Political violence is no longer just an everyday problem in East Germany: last year, as figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office recently compiled by Der
Spiegel
show, the Greens were particularly frequently exposed to attacks.
These were particularly often directed against party members, with almost 1,250 attacks in 2023. As a member of the state parliament, Striegel sees himself in a “privileged situation”: “If I have an appointment, the police know and can protect me.” His colleagues and colleagues in local politics have to struggle with other problems: “They are always exposed to this hostility in their immediate social environment,” explained Striegel.
This hinders political work.
Sebastian Striegel, domestic policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, is concerned about the threat posed by right-wing extremism.
© IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Axel Kammerer
Thuringia: Police investigate “attempted murder” after arson attack on SPD politician’s house
In mid-February, this hit Michael Müller, SPD local politician in Waltershausen, Thuringia, whose house was attacked particularly hard.
Before the attack, the Social Democrat organized a rally against right-wing extremism.
It was only through luck that no one was injured in the attack.
“Someone wanted to kill me,” Müller told the
editorial network Germany (RND)
.
The police see it that way too.
A special commission is investigating “attempted murder,” according to the report.
It wasn't the first attack on Democratic politicians in the area.
“More cruel” than the violence itself is “getting used to it,” wrote the RND reporter.
Greens have recently repeatedly been the target of Reich citizens, right-wing extremists and lateral thinkers
Back to the Greens: The party recently had to cancel its political Ash Wednesday in Biberach, Swabia, for security reasons.
In Hirschaid near Bamberg, Franconia, the annual general meeting of the local district association was also canceled.
District chairman Tim-Luca Rosenheimer spoke to
Bayerischer Rundfunk
about a “threatening and intimidating” situation.
Party work in the municipality is a voluntary position, the district association has to repeat the meeting soon, which will probably cost additional time and nerves.
Rally before the Greens' political Ash Wednesday: demonstrating with a scythe is a relatively unambiguous sign.
© Silas Stein/dpa
Both incidents had one thing in common: protests by farmers were closely intertwined with extremists from the conspiracy-ideological “lateral thinkers” milieu, whose boundaries with right-wing extremists and Reich citizens were fluid.
This was shown by research into the Biberach blockade and the action in Hirschaid, by the
Waiblingen newspaper publisher
and the
BR
.
IPPEN.MEDIA
research showed something similar
about the so-called storm on the ferry pier, which was aimed at Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
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State parliament member Striegel sees “anger over change” behind hostilities against the Greens
Striegel sees the reasons for the noticeable increase in hostility and attacks against the Greens partly in “anger about changes” that the Greens in government “have to initiate” in the face of multiple crises.
A diagnosis that political scientist Ursula Münch, director of the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, also made in a
BR
interview.
This anger is okay for now, said Striegel, who studied political science.
Because democracy is the “dispute over solutions” but it also needs “clear rules”.
What should not happen is that some people try to enforce “the law of the strongest” with “the tractor”.
He also said with a view to the blockades of green party events by farmers' protests.
They last met party leader Ricarda Lang in Magdeburg.
Striegel: “Mixed scene” of right-wing extremists, AfD and Reich citizens wants to “destroy democratic discourse”
For Striegel, the limit is clear when it comes to the second reason he sees behind these attacks: he is observing a “mixed scene” that is “trying to destroy democratic discourse.”
In his opinion, this milieu consists of “right-wing extremists, including those from the AfD and Reich citizens” and is susceptible to all sorts of conspiracy stories.
It spreads its propaganda “fueled by Russian bots” on social media.
All of this creates the “basic atmosphere” for hostilities like those in front of his constituency office.
Striegel nevertheless emphasized that anyone who is “really interested in a conversation” can make an appointment in his office or come to the citizen dialogue.
Green avoids assigning blame – Söder complains
When asked whether he was just as annoyed by verbal attacks from the Union as his Bavarian party friends, who repeatedly complained about Prime Minister Markus Söder, Striegel replied: "'It's your fault' is not a good political category."
All Democrats must “be able to argue well with each other.”
The CSU and Free Voters in particular have “massively exaggerated” among the democratic forces, says political scientist Münch.
The Greens would have been accused of “things that they didn’t want to ban” – for example meat consumption.
After a long silence, Söder first emphasized on Tuesday (February 27th) that he strictly rejects violence, then he accused the Greens of being “mildose” in their handling of the attacks on their members in Hirschaid.
(KiBec)