2024-07-16 14:41:55
Former US President Donald Trump was shot at a campaign event. German politicians are horrified – and want to draw consequences for security here too.
After the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there is also great horror in Germany. Politicians condemn the violence – and draw lessons, including for security in Germany.
The Union’s domestic policy spokesman in the Bundestag, Alexander Throm, is calling for early intervention when there are signs of radicalization in this country. “The assassination attempt on Trump must be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” he told t-online. “But it is also true that there is no such thing as absolute security, not even for one of the best-protected people like Trump.” In Germany, too, we must always be aware of this danger, Throm continued. “It is therefore important to intervene early, as soon as the first signs of radicalization become apparent, for example on the Internet.”
The CDU interior expert also appeals to his colleagues in politics: “We politicians must also pay attention to our language so as not to cause further division. This applies especially to so-called populists.”
Sebastian Hartmann, the SPD’s domestic policy spokesman in the Bundestag, told t-online: “We need a political culture in which violence in any form is outlawed.” Certain forms of communication, particularly in social networks, inflame the mood and fuel violence. “Disinformation, which stokes fears based on false facts, also plays a major role here.” This is how words become actions.
Hartmann demands: “We must enable our security authorities to react quickly in both digital and real life and to increase the level of security at any time. Politicians need protection – that is unfortunately the case. Those who protect them need optimal conditions in terms of budgetary resources, but also powers – from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to bodyguards.”
The SPD’s foreign policy spokesman, Nils Schmid, also condemned the shooting of the Republican presidential candidate “in the strongest possible terms”: Schmid called the assassination not only an attack on Trump personally, but also an “attack on American democracy”. He wished Trump “a speedy and full recovery,” Schmid told t-online.
The foreign policy expert of the Chancellor’s party also referred “with great concern” to a similar dangerous trend in Europe, as was shown in May with the attack on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico: In Europe and the USA, “violence is becoming a means of political conflict,” said Schmid. This must never be accepted anywhere. “Elections must be decided by the democratic conflict of ideas and not by violence.”
Saxony’s CDU Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer is currently in the middle of an election campaign himself, with elections scheduled for September in his state as well as in Brandenburg and Thuringia. He told t-online: “The assassination attempt on Donald Trump shows in a frightening way the spiral in which the political climate finds itself. Words become actions, as the European election campaign also showed.”
In Germany, politicians and parties have not seen each other as enemies for decades, but as competitors. “That was the difference to the USA and it was good for our country. I am working to ensure that we maintain this attitude, even though the AfD calls me a traitor. Political incitement is the starting point for physical violence.”