The teenager reported himself to police in Dresden on Sunday morning and said he was “the criminal who killed the SPD politician,” police said in a statement. The 17-year-old did not provide any details, According to Media outlet Der Spiegel.
The SPD has blamed supporters of the far-right party Alliance for Germany (AfD) for the attack on Ecke. “His supporters are now completely disinterested and obviously we see the democrats as fair game,” the statement said on Saturday. Saxony is one of the AfD’s political strongholds.
On Saturday, police spoke about four suspects, estimated to be between 17 and 20 years old. Investigation of other suspects is ongoing.
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anti-far right protest has called For Sunday in Berlin and Dresden.
“Such an act threatens democracy,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also a member of the SPD. Said He was speaking at a congress of European socialist parties in Berlin on Saturday. He said such attacks result from “an environment of discourse, pitting people against each other.”
Eke is the most high-profile victim of violence. On Friday, a campaign worker for the Greens, who was also putting up posters, was attacked by a group of four men, according to police,
Last week, two Greens representatives was abused While campaigning in Essen, western Germany, and another in his car in the east of the country, he was surrounded by dozens of protesters.
According For provisional police figuresThere were 2,790 crimes against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but down from the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections were held.