German Foreign Minister Baerbock condemns attacks on politicians

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Sunday condemned recent attacks on politicians.

"Brutal attacks on committed democrats, campaigners & politicians are attacks on the foundation of our democracy: free elections," the minister, currently on a trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"The reports about this are frightening. Violence is never a means of democracy."

On Friday evening, a German politician was putting up campaign posters in the eastern German city of Dresden ahead of the upcoming European Parliament elections when he was attacked and seriously injured by four assailants.

Matthias Ecke, a 41-year-old Social Democrat lawmaker in the European Parliament, was taken to hospital with serious injuries and required an operation, his party said.

Minutes before Ecke was attacked on Friday, according to the police, a group of four unidentified assailants had attacked a 28-year-old Green Party campaign worker while he was putting up posters in the same part of Dresden.

There have been several violent incidents during election campaigns across Germany, including on Thursday evening in the western German city of Essen, where the Green Party member of parliament Kai Gehring and his party colleague Rolf Fliss were attacked after a party event.