German newspaper employee attacked Monday by far-right group
Activists belonging to the Identitarian Movement attacked a taz employee Monday morning in front the liberal leaning daily newspaper’s Berlin headquarters, according to taz.
The woman was reportedly grabbed and struck in the upper body after attempting to prevent the far-right activists from placing a poster on the taz building. Taz reports that a group of at least six Identitarian Movement activists had pamphlets and placards and were piling bricks in front of the building.
They were attempting to hang a large poster featuring Frank Magnitz, the head of the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in Bremen.
Magnitz was attacked in his hometown last week after attending a New Year’s reception. At the time, local police said, “Given the victim's work, we believe that this is a politically motivated act.”
Following the attack, politicians, including the likes of Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Green Party politician Cem Özdemir, said then that violence is never justified as political communication.
Monday’s assailants at taz were mostly dressed in black with hoods over their heads and drove up in a car with a Rostock license plate in the early morning, according to the newspaper. Before leaving the scene, the group took photos and later posted them to Twitter.
The Berlin Office of Criminal Investigations (LKA) has taken over the investigation, according to a police statement obtained by The Local. The suspects are under investigation for possible trespassing and dangerous bodily injury.
Other actions throughout Germany
The Identitarian Movement carried out other activities at other media and political sites throughout Germany Monday morning.
The Frankfurter Rundschau reports activists attempted to place posters outside its offices Monday, but police prevented the group from doing so. Police stopped approximately ten people outside the Frankfurter Rundschau Monday morning near posters and flyers with text that read “When do you talk about left-wing violence?" and the symbol of the Identitarian Movement.
“It is likely that this action was directed against the Frankfurter Rundschau, which regularly reports critically on the extreme right in general and the ‘identities’ in particular,” the newspaper said on its website.
ARD Capital Studio also saw activists Monday and Tagesschau reports that other actions occurred at Der Spiegel headquarters in Hamburg, the constituency office of the Green Party politician Claudia Roth in Augsburg, and a party office of the Left in Lüneburg.
In previous years, according to reports, the Identitarian Movement has also carried out political protests at the Brandenburg Gate.
Deutsche Welle has previously reported that the Identitarians are a pan-European movement of young nationalists that originated in France. Their main purpose in defending Europe's "identity" from Islamization, and uses the "lambda" symbol historically associated with the ancient Greek Spartan army. Members of the group often describe themselves as a "meta-political project."
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The woman was reportedly grabbed and struck in the upper body after attempting to prevent the far-right activists from placing a poster on the taz building. Taz reports that a group of at least six Identitarian Movement activists had pamphlets and placards and were piling bricks in front of the building.
They were attempting to hang a large poster featuring Frank Magnitz, the head of the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in Bremen.
Magnitz was attacked in his hometown last week after attending a New Year’s reception. At the time, local police said, “Given the victim's work, we believe that this is a politically motivated act.”
Following the attack, politicians, including the likes of Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Green Party politician Cem Özdemir, said then that violence is never justified as political communication.
Monday’s assailants at taz were mostly dressed in black with hoods over their heads and drove up in a car with a Rostock license plate in the early morning, according to the newspaper. Before leaving the scene, the group took photos and later posted them to Twitter.
The Berlin Office of Criminal Investigations (LKA) has taken over the investigation, according to a police statement obtained by The Local. The suspects are under investigation for possible trespassing and dangerous bodily injury.
Other actions throughout Germany
The Identitarian Movement carried out other activities at other media and political sites throughout Germany Monday morning.
The Frankfurter Rundschau reports activists attempted to place posters outside its offices Monday, but police prevented the group from doing so. Police stopped approximately ten people outside the Frankfurter Rundschau Monday morning near posters and flyers with text that read “When do you talk about left-wing violence?" and the symbol of the Identitarian Movement.
“It is likely that this action was directed against the Frankfurter Rundschau, which regularly reports critically on the extreme right in general and the ‘identities’ in particular,” the newspaper said on its website.
ARD Capital Studio also saw activists Monday and Tagesschau reports that other actions occurred at Der Spiegel headquarters in Hamburg, the constituency office of the Green Party politician Claudia Roth in Augsburg, and a party office of the Left in Lüneburg.
In previous years, according to reports, the Identitarian Movement has also carried out political protests at the Brandenburg Gate.
Deutsche Welle has previously reported that the Identitarians are a pan-European movement of young nationalists that originated in France. Their main purpose in defending Europe's "identity" from Islamization, and uses the "lambda" symbol historically associated with the ancient Greek Spartan army. Members of the group often describe themselves as a "meta-political project."
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