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PoliticsGermany

AfD lawmaker attacked in eastern Germany

March 14, 2022

German police are looking for two men after a federal lawmaker from the populist AfD party was physically attacked in the eastern German town of Bautzen.

https://p.dw.com/p/48Tkg
A door with the AfD logo painted on them
The attack took place in Saxony, the stronghold of Germany's AfDImage: Robert Michael/dpa/picture alliance

An attack on a German lawmaker prompted an investigation by special police units in charge of fighting terrorism and extremism, German officials said on Monday.

The authorities were trying to track down two men in relation to the incident.

Police did not give the name of the victim, saying only he was 57 years old and a member of the Bundestag for the far-right AfD party. The incident took place when the man set up an AfD info stall in the town of Bautzen, located near the Czech and Polish borders in the German state of Saxony.

Two men then approached the stall in central Bautzen and threw down a flag. When the politician tried talking to them, one the men "abruptly hit him," the police said.

A signpost in Bautzen with information in German and Czech
Bautzen is located some 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the Czech borderImage: Arno Burgi/dpa/picture alliance

The AfD lawmaker fell over, then got up and was punched again, according to the statement. He sustained light injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police said they had started looking for the suspects "immediately" but that they remained at large. It was also not clear if the attack was in any way linked with the anti-lockdown protest happening in Bautzen on Monday.

Saxony as AfD stronghold

Political observers see the AfD as a natural home for coronavirus skeptics and lockdown opponents. The AfD is also controversial because of its focus on ethnicity and anti-immigration views voiced by many of its members. Last week, a German court ruled that a domestic intelligence agency was allowed to label the party a "suspicious entity" over possible extremism and anti-constitutional views.

The eastern state of Saxony is the stronghold of the AfD, with the right-wing party securing 24.6% support to win the latest parliamentary vote in September last year. The result — higher than in any other 15 German states — put it comfortably ahead of the two national heavy-weights, the SPD and the CDU.

On a national level, however, the AfD scored only 10.3% of the vote, 2.3% less than during the previous parliamentary election in 2017.  The party currently controls 83 seats in Germany's 736-seat Bundestag.

dj/msh (dpa, AFP)