German federal and state interior ministers agreed on the need for tougher penalties for violent crimes targeting politicians and volunteers ahead of upcoming election campaigns on Tuesday.
They discussed policing measures and weighed tightening criminal law in talks called after an attack on a German lawmaker last week.
In order to send "a very clear signal," the security authorities and also the judiciary must ensure swift and consistent proceedings and penalties, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday evening after a video conference arranged following the incident in Dresden.
If criminal law had to be tightened further for this, she said she would seek dialogue with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann.
Matthias Ecke, who represents the Social Democrats (SPD) in the European Parliament, was brutally beaten by four assailants on Friday evening while hanging campaign posters in the eastern German city of Dresden.
State interior ministers joined in their call on the federal ministry to for tougher penalties for attacks on politicians and election workers to protect those working at local authority level in particular from threats and violence.
Statistics show a rising number of offences against lawmakers, according to Faeser. She said there were 2,710 offences against elected representatives in 2023, an increase of 53% compared to the previous year.
"Attacks on AfD politicians are also unacceptable," she said, referring to the far-right Alternative for Germany. She denigrated an "escalation of anti-democratic violence."
She warned of those especially from the far-right fringe, who are becoming increasingly "unrestrained and unscrupulous" in their attacks and defamation of people and demanded a halt to the spiral of hatred and violence.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for solidarity for those involved in promoting democracy. "Democracy needs a political culture that is free from hatred and agitation and even more so free from violence," he said Steinmeier in Brandenburg.
The security authorities must do everything necessary to track down the criminals and the courts must bring the perpetrators to justice, Steinmeier said.
"But this also means that we must stand behind those who fulfil their responsibilities as democrats and show our complete disgust for those who violate democratic rules."