Man fined $5,100 after hugging German chancellor

A stranger slipped past Olaf Scholz’s security team in 2023

A German man was fined €4,500 ($5,100) on Tuesday for sneaking into Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s motorcade and hugging him on the tarmac. The defendant, whose name was withheld by authorities, also had his driver’s license suspended for two and a half years.

In May 2023, the man, driving a dark Audi, joined the chancellor’s motorcade as Scholz was returning to Berlin after the 25th anniversary of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Once the convoy arrived at Frankfurt Airport, the driver exited his car, shook Scholz’s hand, and hugged him on the tarmac. He was then detained by police.

According to Deutsche Welle, the man insisted he had joined the convoy by mistake. He explained that he was high on cocaine and had been partying for two days. The court found him guilty of driving under the influence of drugs and trespassing.

“People saying hello and greeting me is never something that particularly affects me,” Scholz said shortly after the encounter, as quoted by AFP. “That’s very normal and I didn’t find this situation dramatic either.”

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The chancellor’s spokesman, Wolfgang Buechner, later told reporters that Scholz “didn’t feel threatened at any point.”

Nevertheless, the lapse in security sparked public scrutiny, given the rise in verbal abuse and physical attacks on German politicians in recent years.

In 2024, an assailant struck Franziska Giffey, Berlin’s economy minister, in the head during an event at a library. That same year, a group of teenagers beat up Matthias Ecke, a member of the European Parliament, while he was hanging campaign posters, and aggressive bystanders cursed and spat on Green Party politician Yvonne Mosler on the street.