Escalating German Neo-Nazis... Ruling Party Politician Beaten

Two months ahead of the early German general election, young neo-Nazis assaulted ruling party politicians.

According to local media including the daily Tagesspiegel on the 16th (local time), on the 14th near a subway station in southwestern Berlin, four right-wing extremists aged 16 to 19 beat two local politicians from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) by kicking them with military boots and punching them.

They also made racist remarks to the responding police officers and threw broken glass at their faces, causing injuries.

The Berlin prosecutor's office obtained arrest warrants and detained three of them on charges including grievous bodily harm.

Local media reported that they were from Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, and were on their way to a neo-Nazi rally in Berlin when they spotted SPD politicians campaigning and then committed the violence.

The Berlin SPD said in a statement, "The election campaign began with a Nazi attack on democracy." Progressive figures from the SPD, the Green Party, and others were also attacked multiple times by far-right forces during the European Parliament elections in June.

Recently, Berlin has emerged as a stronghold for young neo-Nazi groups. In October, when a neo-Nazi rally was held in Berlin for the first time in four years, the Berlin city authorities criticized the rally as "a provocation targeting youth inclined to violence within the internet far-right culture."