Diaby, of the Social Democrats (SPD), entered parliament alongside Charles M Huber, who sat for the Christian Democrats for just one parliamentary term. They were the first black members of the Bundestag and their entry was hailed as groundbreaking and historic by equal rights campaigners.
Diaby, who has a PhD in chemistry, was born in Senegal and moved to the then East Germany in 1985.
He has increasingly faced racist abuse in recent years. His constituency office in Halle, Saxony Anhalt, has been an arson target, and has had bullets fired through the window. Some staff have faced blackmail attempts to stop them working for him and have been subjected to and threats, Diaby said.
“In the last few years I’ve faced several murder threats. This has now overstepped the mark,” he said. “The hatred that the AfD sows every day with its misanthropic narratives is reflected in concrete psychological and physical violence. This endangers the cohesion of our society. We cannot simply accept this.”
Another important part of the article:
His stated reasons for leaving would be more believable if there had been more time between the two announcements. I’m not saying he should stay longer if he doesn’t want to; I’m just saying it might’ve been better if he’d gone public about the hate earlier.
The attacks on him and his office were public knowledge and in the news for years. Only the extend of hate mail and threats they held back and took to the public now.