Political violence appears to be rising across the Europe, where societies are deeply polarized in the face of widespread migration and are badly shaken by the war in Ukraine, the largest war on the continent since World War II
Slovakia’s prime minister was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt last month and still faces a long recovery. The Danish prime minister was assaulted by a man Friday evening in downtown Copenhagen. German politicians have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks for months.
Political violence appears to be rising across the Europe, where societies are deeply polarized in the face of widespread migration from the Middle East and Africa and are badly shaken by the war in Ukraine, the largest conflict on the continent since World War II.
The recent violence has come in the runup to elections taking place this weekend to the European Parliament, the legislative branch of the 27-member bloc.
In general, EU elections do not arouse the same kinds of passions as elections in the individual nations, and to what extent the violence is driven by the campaign climate is not clear. But the backdrop of migration pressure has awakened strong feelings, and is expected to lead to a political shift to the right in the EU legislature.
The most serious attack so far has been that against Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who struggled for his life after multiple shots were fired on him on May 15 as he greeted supporters.
Fico, who took office last fall after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform, suggested in a prerecorded video this week that he was targeted because of his views that differ sharply from the European mainstream.
