Germany is experiencing a dangerous escalation of political aggression, as seen by the sharp rise in attacks against politically active people, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser charged in a guest article.
"We must stop this spiral," the Social Democrat (SPD) politician wrote in her article for the Sunday edition of Germany's Welt newspaper.
Last year, 3,691 offences were recorded against public and elected officials and party representatives, including 80 violent offences.
That is an 85% rise over the 1,994 offences seen in 2022 and a nearly 20% increase in violent crimes from the 67 seen in 2022.
"Those affected are threatened, their offices attacked, their homes besieged, their private property damaged or destroyed," Faeser wrote.
On Tuesday, she plans to present the statistics on politically motivated crime for 2023.
She pointed out the attack on parliament or Bundestag member Matthias Ecke, also from the SPD, who was beaten and hospitalized in Dresden at the beginning of May.
"It was the sad culmination of the large number of attempts at intimidation, threats and acts of violence in recent weeks. We must show unequivocally that the constitutional state will not tolerate this violence."
She said that goes for violence across the political spectrum - against the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Attacks not aimed just at politicians
Violence against volunteers or police and rescue workers is also directed against the community, Faeser said.
"The perpetrators celebrate themselves for their fight against a 'system' that they despise. But they are and remain blunt perpetrators of violence, despicable criminals."
And that is exactly how they should be prosecuted - and pursued with extensive investigations, which require resources she noted.
"We have increased the federal police force by 1,000 officers every year. Some federal states are also strengthening their authorities - that's exactly what we need, both in the police and in the judiciary."
Faeser emphasized that she was not concerned with protecting certain groups of people better than others.
"An assault is an assault, that applies equally to everyone."
Preventing threats on politicians' doorsteps important
"Targeted tougher penalties make sense here. We are also changing the law on reporting so that the private addresses of local politicians are protected," Faeser said.
What is even more important now, however, is more consistent prosecution.
"If people who are being threatened have the impression that a criminal complaint is useless and will not be pursued, then that is devastating."
Justice minister wary about proposed new law
Marco Buschmann, Germany's justice minister, has reacted sceptically to an upper house of parliament initiative to provide greater protection for politicians against intimidating attacks on their private lives.
"We will take a close look at the initiative. However, I would caution against creating the impression that politicians in general need to fear their own people," Buschmann told the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers.
The eastern state of Saxony has proposed a law in the Bundesrat, which is made up of Germany's 16 state premiers, that would make influencing public officials and elected representatives through so-called "political stalking" a criminal offence.
This is intended to protect decision-makers - especially in local jurisdictions - from being influenced by threatening attacks on their private lives. But Buschmann sees "no obvious gaps in criminal liability."
The proposal is creating the impression that current criminal law is insufficient to protect against violent attacks, but Buschmann said the problem isn't a legal one but an enforcement issue.
"The best criminal law is useless if the detection rates are low." Any deterrent effect would then be lost, regardless of how far the penalties go, he said.
