Thuringia: Several politicians targeted by criminal actions

Enlarge image

Thuringia's state parliament president Pommer

Photo: Jacob Schršter / IMAGO

There have been several criminal incidents against politicians in Thuringia in the past few days. For example, the constituency office of Thuringia's state parliament president Birgit Pommer (Left) was daubed with swastikas by unknown people. The state security agency is investigating, the police said on Tuesday. Accordingly, the red paint was applied to the office in Bleicherode on Monday afternoon. The perpetrators may have been disturbed because a slogan was not completed. A photo shows the word “Victory” on the shop window.

The co-chair of the Left regional association Ulrike Grosse-Röthig told the dpa news agency: "The attack on Birgit Pommer's office clearly came from neo-Nazis. They obviously feel that they are on the rise thanks to public propaganda and agitation. Violence should not be a means of political debate.

Another criminal attack occurred early Monday morning in the Gotha district: Unknown people set fire to a house that apparently belongs to the SPD politician Michael Müller, as the "Thüringer Allgemeine" reports. “There was a fire in a vehicle and the facade of a house in the immediate vicinity,” said the Gotha State Criminal Police Inspectorate. The fire brigade and police went to the SPD politician's home in the early hours of the morning. The police initially did not release any further details about the arson attack.

According to the “Thüringer Allgemeine”, Müller himself was not at home at the weekend. However, there were guests present who, after noticing the fire, were able to escape from the log house, which was made entirely of wood, in time and undamaged. The guests are a family of four from Saxony. According to the police, the property damage is estimated at 13,000 euros.

SPD politician Müller recently organized a demonstration against right-wing extremism

Müller did not want to speculate in the “Thüringer Allgemeine” about whether the arson attack might have been carried out by right-wing extremist circles. He was shocked by the fact that human lives were so willingly put at risk. “It doesn’t matter which direction it comes from,” said Müller. The SPD politician recently organized a demonstration against right-wing extremism. After the attack, Müller initially left his candidacy for the city council election in May open. He originally wanted to take part, but “now people are questioning everything.”

Over the weekend, unknown perpetrators had already destroyed windows at the constituency and party offices of the SPD in Suhl. They threw stones at the windows of both buildings on Sunday evening, the police announced on Monday. Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) reported on X (formerly Twitter) about a verbal attack by young men on himself and his wife during the carnival season. He wrote about “forms of brutalization.”

eru/dpa