BERLIN (AP) 鈥 A prominent German leftist politician was sprayed with a red liquid, likely paint, during a campaign event Thursday in the eastern city of Erfurt, ahead of closely watched state elections on Sunday.
Sara Wagenknecht, founder of the new , was only lightly splattered by the liquid but briefly left the stage, according to German news agency dpa.
A man was immediately pushed to the ground by security forces, handcuffed and taken away. Wagenknecht returned to the stage and later wrote on the social media platform X that she was scared but fine.
While no one was injured in Erfurt, the incident comes as is on the rise. In May, a prominent Berlin politician was violently assaulted and suffered injuries to her head and neck. Before that, from the party of Chancellor was beaten up in the eastern city of Dresden while campaigning and had to undergo surgery.
Both government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months, and have called on police to step up protection for politicians and election rallies.
Wagenknecht was campaigning in Thuringia, one of two eastern states, along with Saxony, holding elections Sunday when the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, could become the .
But Wagenknecht, who also hopes to shake up the picture as the national government has squabbled its way to deep unpopularity. Her party is known by its German acronym BSW.
High ratings for AfD and BSW, both at their strongest in the formerly communist east, have been fed in part by discontent with the national government. The parties in Scholz鈥檚 governing alliance squabbled publicly throughout the campaign for the in June and obtained dismal results. The internal hostilities have intensified over a summer plagued by disagreements about the .
Wagenknecht offers a combination of left-wing economic policy, with high wages and generous benefits, and a restrictive approach . She also questions some environmentalists鈥 plans to combat climate change and opposes current sanctions against Russia, which was once Germany鈥檚 leading , and German to Ukraine.
She has declared that her party will only join state governments that have a 鈥渃lear position for diplomacy and against the preparation of war.鈥
