Syrian refugee quits race for parliament over racism and death threats

A Syrian refugee by the name of Tareq Alaows, who had hoped to be Germany’s first Syrian refugee MP, had quit his bid for parliament as a Green party candidate after receiving racist abuse and death threats. Niema Movassat, a Left party MP with Iranian heritage, said that his withdrawal “needs to be a wake-up call” to protect the rights of minority politicians. Authorities note that the last year has brought about rising levels hate speech and verbal abuse towards politicians, health officials and journalists. Most of the insults are anonymous and are really hard to bring to justice. But the case of Walter Lübcke, who was assassinated by a neo-Nazi in 2019 for his pro-refugee views, serves as a reminder to take the safety of politicians seriously. Ethnic minorities are heavily underrepresented in German politics and activists say that if threats and abuse go unchecked, politicians of colour will be forced to step down from politics or avoid speaking up about important issues.