Wednesday, May 8
Former Mayor Franziska Giffey injured after attack in Berlin library
The attacker came from behind carrying a bag filled with “hard contents” while Berlin’s former mayor – currently the Senator for Economic Affairs – Franziska Giffey (SPD) was visiting a library in Rudow. After being struck on the head and the neck, the 46-year-old politician required outpatient treatment at a hospital for headaches and neck pain. The perpetrator of the attack escaped, and state security have taken over the investigation.
This attack comes in the wake of other political violence in Germany. Last Friday, SPD politician Matthias Ecke was beaten up by four young men in Dresden while putting up election posters. Also in Dresden, a Green Party politician was threatened and spat on by men who then performed the Hitler salute.
Berlin’s current mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) reacted to news of this latest attack by promising harsher punishments for attacks on politicians, writing on X that: “Anyone who attacks politicians is attacking our democracy. We will not accept that.”
