Election results in Germany causes consternation across Europe as German chancellor says preliminary results in Thuringia are ‘bitter’
Here’s the updated seat distribution in Saxony.
The state election commission corrected the preliminary results.
Continue reading...Alternative für Deutschland leader speaks of ‘historic success’ of top place in Thuringia and second in Saxony
A far-right party became the biggest force in a German state parliament for the first time since the second world war, preliminary results showed on Sunday, while a new populist force on the left established a firm foothold in the country’s political landscape.
Voters in two closely watched elections in the former communist east made their dissatisfaction with Germany’s mainstream political parties clear, putting the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in the top spot in Thuringia, with 32.8% of the vote, and second place in Saxony, with 30.6%, according to preliminary results.
Continue reading...Likely win in Thuringia and second place in Saxony highlight how eastern voters are asserting their own political identity
After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, the former West German chancellor Willy Brandt predicted that reunification would finally allow “what belongs together to grow together”.
How optimistic that image of organic healing sounds 35 years on. Tonight’s historic election results from Thuringia and Saxony paint a picture of a Germany whose eastern and western regions are, if anything, drifting further and further apart.
Continue reading...Exit polls show strong performance for far-right Alternative für Deutschland in both German state elections
The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has taken a narrow lead in Saxony, with the far right Alternative für Deutschland following closely in second place, according to the first exit polls.
Saxony ZDF exit poll
Continue reading...Bus was heading to festival in Siegen near Cologne when incident took place on Friday evening
A 32-year-old woman has been arrested after six people were hurt in a knife attack on a bus headed to a festival in western Germany. Authorities said there was no evidence of a political or religious motive.
Three of those attacked are in life-threatening condition, police said on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Sahra Wagenknecht, whose alliance opposes Nato and military aid for Ukraine, said she was ‘scared but fine’ after incident in Erfurt
My colleague Deborah Cole has written a preview of this weekend’s elections in Saxony and Thuringia, looking at how the far-right AfD and the alliance founded by Sahra Wagenknecht – the politician who was attacked with liquid on Thursday – could spell an upheaval of the political landscape in Germany. You can read the full piece here:
The DPA news agency reports that German security authorities have warned of “unconventional incendiary devices” sent via freight service providers.
Continue reading...Mendis, who stayed in Manchester church for two years in 1980s to fight deportation, has died aged 68 in Germany
Refugees and human rights activists are making their way to Bremen in north-west Germany for the funeral of a man who fought for freedom and safety for asylum seekers.
Viraj Mendis came to prominence after seeking sanctuary in a Manchester church where he spent two years in the 1980s. He died aged 68 on 16 August in Bremen, which offered him sanctuary after he was deported from the UK.
Continue reading...Sahra Wagenknecht attacked while about to speak on stage in run-up to Thuringia and Saxony state elections
The leader of a breakaway populist leftwing party in Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht, has been sprayed with pink paint while campaigning in elections in the eastern state of Thuringia.
Wagenknecht, a former high-profile member of the far-left party Die Linke, who this year founded the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), was attacked on stage on Thursday as she prepared to address crowds in Erfurt. She ducked as a man approached the stage and spattered paint in her direction, which hit her dress and face.
Continue reading...‘Ugly’ footwear trend boosts German company’s results but shares fall on bigger-than-expected drop in margins
Strong sales of clogs – which have been adopted by the American models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner as part of this summer’s trend for “ugly” shoes – have helped Birkenstock to the highest quarterly sales in its history.
The German shoemaker, which listed on the US stock market in October last year valued at $7.5bn, said sales of “closed-toe silhouettes”, which include its clunky clogs, rose by more than twice the average for its products.
Continue reading...Political landscape faces upheaval as far-right AfD and left-conservative BSW expected to perform strongly
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has plastered the city centre of Erfurt with eye-catching posters of a jet soaring through a clear blue sky, conjuring up many Germans’ dream of a tropical holiday. Only the tagline reveals a darker message: “Summer, Sun, Remigration.”
As it campaigns for votes in its east German heartland, the AfD has long since embraced the slogan that last winter sent hundreds of thousands of Germans on to the streets in protest against revelations of a rightwing “master plan” to deport unwanted foreigners and citizens alike.
Continue reading...Prime minister says ‘progressives have to provide the better answer’ during visit to Germany
Keir Starmer has expressed concern that the UK could face a rise in mass far-right populism as seen in Germany and France, as he said it was his mission to “inject some hope” into the country.
Speaking to reporters in Germany, where the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) could come top in three state elections next month, Starmer said the increase in support for such groups was “something that occupies my time”, especially after UK riots partly inspired by far-right misinformation.
Continue reading...Prime minister says agreement will be a ‘boost to our trading relations’. This live blog is closed
Keir Starmer is due to hold a press conference with Olaf Scholz soon. You can watch via the live stream at the top of the page. You may need to refresh the page for it to come up.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out a rise in inheritance tax or capital gains tax, reports the PA news agency.
I’m not going to write a budget two months ahead of delivering it. We’re going to have to make difficult decisions in a range of areas.”
The UK economy is just emerging from the recession that we entered into last year, and two quarters of positive economic growth is not going to reverse more than a decade of economic stagnation.
Much work is needed to rebuild the foundations of our economy so we can rebuild Britain and make working people better off, and that is why growing our economy is absolutely essential.”
Unless we grow the economy, we’re going to continue to be in a situation where taxes are at too high a level and public spending is not sustainable.
We’ve got to break out of this doom loop, which is why growing the economy is the number one priority of this new government.”
Continue reading...PM does not rule out setting up system in future after meeting with Olaf Scholz, who stressed desire for closer ties
Keir Starmer has held the door open for some form of youth mobility exchange with EU countries after talks in Germany with Olaf Scholz, who stressed to the British prime minister his wish for closer such ties.
While Starmer said at a press conference with the German chancellor that the UK did not have plans to join the EU’s youth mobility scheme – with No 10 having previously ruled out such a move – speaking to reporters later, he pointedly did not rule out setting up some sort of system for other link-ups, for example student exchanges.
Continue reading...Olaf Scholz also promises swifter enforcement of deportation rules after three killed in last week’s rampage
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has promised tougher weapons laws and swifter enforcement of deportation rules in response to the deadly mass stabbing in the western city of Solingen, as the far right seized on public outrage in the run-up to key state elections.
Scholz laid a single white rose at the scene of Friday night’s rampage claimed by the Islamic State group in which a Syrian asylum seeker is alleged to have killed three and injured eight people attending a street festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.
Continue reading...Issa Al H, a 26-year-old Syrian, appears before a judge in Karlsruhe after attack in which three people died
Solingen stabbings: what we know so far
Prosecutors have said the suspect arrested over a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen shares the ideology of the Islamic State group and was acting on those beliefs when he attacked.
The 26-year-old Syrian, who had turned himself in, was identified by federal prosecutors as Issa Al H, with his last name omitted in line with German privacy laws.
Continue reading...Politicans have long been calling for stricter weapons laws while others say social issues need to be addressed, after three killed at festival on Friday
Germany has experienced a steep rise in knife violence in recent years, and the mass fatal stabbing in the western city of Solingen will compound the pressure on the government to crack down on the problem, officials and analysts said.
Security authorities say attacks with knives are particularly concentrated in city centres and at railway stations, leading the country’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, this month to call for restrictions on the weapons in public spaces, days before the assault that claimed the lives of three people at a festival in Solingen.
Continue reading...Arrest comes after police operation at home for refugees in city, according to spokesperson
Police made a second arrest on Saturday in their investigation of deadly stabbings in the western German city of Solingen, a spokesperson said.
The arrest followed a police operation at a home for refugees in Solingen, the spokesperson added. They said they could not provide any more details on the individual or the connection to the incident.
Continue reading...Police have made a third arrest during search for male attacker after three killed and eight injured at a festival in west German city
A man suspected of killing three and injuring eight more in the city of Solingen was arrested late on Saturday, according to regional interior minister Herbert Reul, following Friday night’s attack at a festival.
Here is what we know so far:
North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, told the ARD broadcaster that authorities spent the day following a “hot lead” that led to the latest arrest, the third police have made.
Police had previously made two arrests that were likely not the perpetrator, Reul said. “The real suspect is the one that we’ve arrested just now,” he said. The individual was being questioned and evidence was seized, he said. Police declined to immediately comment.
Terrorism has not been ruled out as a motive. The prosecutor Markus Caspers said police were looking at terror as a possibility, saying there was no other obvious motive and that the alleged attacker appeared to be unknown to the victims.
The Islamic State (IS) group on Saturday claimed responsibility for the Solingen stabbings but did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion. Accounts claiming to speak for IS have falsely claimed responsibility for atrocities in the past.
Earlier, police detained a 15-year-old at his parents’ home in the early hours of Saturday, which prosecutors said was on suspicion of failing to report a crime. Public prosecutor Markus Caspers said of the 15-year-old that he was alleged to have spoken to the perpetrator “shortly before the crime”.
A second arrest was made following a police operation at a home for refugees in Solingen, a police spokesperson said. They said they could not provide any more details on the individual or the connection to the alleged incident.
Police have found at least one weapon that may have been used in the alleged assault and are analysing it for DNA traces. They said they had had no indication in the run-up to the festival that there was a security threat.
Three people – two men, aged 67 and 56, and a woman, 56 – were killed on Friday night during a festival of diversity to mark the city of Solingen’s 650th anniversary, which began on Friday and was supposed to run through to Sunday. Eight others were injured, of whom four are fighting for their lives, police said.
Continue reading...Police in western city of Solingen search for unknown assailant after attack during festival attended by thousands that also seriously injured five
Police in Germany are searching for an unknown suspect behind a mass stabbing at a festival on Friday night that killed three and injured eight, five of them seriously.
The knife attack took place as thousands of people gathered at the central square in the city of Solingen in the country’s west during celebrations to mark its 650th anniversary, billed as a festival of diversity.
Continue reading...French service sector drives growth but experts warn strong figures mask disappointing performance elsewhere
The Paris Olympics have provided a boost to the eurozone economy after a sharp rise in spending as athletes and spectators descended on the French capital for the summer sporting event.
Figures from a closely watched survey of businesses showed monthly French private sector output rose to its highest level in 17 months in August.
Continue reading...