German politician of African origin injured in racial attack

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - A Black politician from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party was injured in a racial attack in the eastern city of Cottbus, public broadcaster RBB reported Friday.

Adeline Abimnwi Awemo was racially insulted and attacked by a woman Thursday evening while hanging up election posters in Cottbus, the CDU state party said.

According to the party, the politician who is of African origin, was slightly injured in the incident. The police confirmed the attack.

Reacting to the racial assault, CDU state chairman Jan Redmann expressed shock and said: "The increasing risk for people who are politically active for our country is unbearable."

The CDU politician with German citizenship was born in Cameroon. She sits on the Advisory Board for Integration and Migration in Cottbus. In the state elections, she is running as a direct candidate for the CDU in the southern Cottbus constituency.

A series of brutal assaults on politicians in Germany — including a violent attack on a member of the European Parliament in the eastern city of Dresden — has rattled many Germans and triggered a national debate over the growing rough political climate in the country, with some drawing comparisons to the kind of political violence that accompanied the rise of the Nazis.

Recent attacks on politicians are “reminiscent of the darkest chapter in German history,” said Hendrik Wust, the conservative Prime Minister of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in an interview on German public television.