German MEP is seriously injured in 'far right attack' in Dresden while he puts up posters before teenager turns himself in over the assault

A teenager has handed himself in over the assault of a German member of the European Parliament who was left seriously injured in a 'far right attack' while putting up posters in Dresden.

Matthias Ecke, 41, was assaulted on Friday evening and required surgery after being attacked by a group of four young men, his Social Democratic Party (SDP) revealed on Saturday.

A 17-year-old has now turned himself into police in Germany and claimed to be 'the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician,' cops said in a statement Sunday morning.

'He admitted the act but didn't go beyond that,' police spokeswoman Silvaine Reiche said.

According to the Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA), the search is still underway for the remaining three suspects, who are all believed to be young men between the ages of 17 and 20.

Matthias Ecke, 41, was assaulted on Friday evening and required surgery after being ambushed by a group of four young men, in what is believed to have been a 'far right attack'

Ecke, a European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SDP, was set upon by four assailants as he stuck up EU election posters in the Striesen district, according to cops.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy and said: 'We must never accept such acts of violence'.

The lawmaker is currently the top candidate in Saxony for June's European Parliament election.

'The attack on Matthias Ecke is an unmistakable alarm signal to all people in this country,' Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, chairs of SPD's Saxony branch, said in the statement. 

'Our democratic values ​​are under attack.' 

The statement also claimed that there had been other attempts at intimidation and the destruction of posters, as German police continue their investigations into the attack.

The SDP pointed the finger at supporters of the far-right party Alliance for Germany (AfD) for the assault on Ecke.

'Their supporters are now completely disinhibited and apparently see us democrats as fair game,' the statement said.

Following the shocking incident, anti-far-right protests have erupted across Berlin as  the group is also believed to have attacked a Green Party member who was also seen campaigning just minutes before attacking Ecke, reports DW.

Participants gather for a demonstration against the far right and to condemn attacks on politicians, at Pariser Platz square in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on May 5, 2024

A 17-year-old has turned himself in on early May 5, 2024 to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker in Dresden , that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy

A participant displays a placard 'Dresden thugs - willing accomplices of (AfD politician Bjoern) Hoecke' during a demonstration against the far right and to condemn attacks on politicians

Police revealed a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been 'punched' and 'kicked' on the same Dresden street. 

The groups Zusammen gegen Rechts (Together against the right) and Wir sind die Brandmauer Dresden (We are the firewall Dresden) called for Sunday protests in Berlin and Dresden.

According to initial police reports, over 1,000 people attended the demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate in solidarity with the injured SDP politician.

The Green Party chairmen Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert, as well as the Prime Ministers of Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, Michael Kretschmer and Hendrik Wüst, also appeared at the protest, local reports have stated.

Last week, two Green deputies were verbally abused while campaigning in Essen, western Germany, and another was ambushed by several demonstrators in her car while in the east of the country.

The German Association of Cities have now called for tougher penalties for attacks on politicians.

'We have to protect politically active people better,' said City Council President Markus Lewe to the Düsseldorf Rheinische Post.

Lewe demanded that attacks on politicians must be 'consistently pursued and punished' by the police and judiciary. 

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, is planning to call a special conference with Germany's regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.