German politician hit with paint ahead of state election

A man has been arrested after the leader of Germany's new populist left-wing party Sahra Wagenknecht was attacked with pink paint at a campaign rally.

The incident happened on Thursday in Erfurt in the eastern state of Thuringia, where a state parliamentary election is due to be held this weekend, one of three state elections in Germany in September.

What happened in the attack?

News agencies said a middle-aged white man approached the stage where the politician — who leads the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) — was standing and sprayed paint in her direction.

According to journalists who witnessed the attack, Wagenknecht stepped aside but was lightly hit by the paint.

The BSW's local press officer Steffen Quasebarth said the paint hit the politician in the head, upper body and neck. He added that the attacker had used some type of medical syringe.

Security staff quickly apprehended the man, who was later arrested and taken into custody, DPA news agency reported. 

Police said the man is accused of property damage and defamation. The motive for the attack is unclear.

Wagenknecht left the stage for a short while before resuming her appearance and telling the crowd that "some people don't want us" in power. 

"Don't let yourself be intimidated — we won't let ourselves be intimidated," she said from the podium after the man was apprehended.

Wagenknecht later wrote on X, formerly Twitter that she was fine after the attack.

"I'm still a bit shaken. But don't worry: we won't be intimidated!" she wrote, adding her thanks to well-wishers for their support.

Why did Sahra Wagenknecht start the new BSW party?

Wagenknecht defected from the socialist Left Party (Die Linke) last year to create the new leftwing populist BSW, in part over her views that Germany needs a radical crackdown on immigration.

She holds generally left-wing positions on economic issues and has campaigned against Germany's military support for Ukraine.

The 55-year-old, born in communist East Germany, has courted controversy by calling for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Moscow's invasion of its neighbor.

Wagenknecht has pitched the BSW as a rival to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has seen a surge in support, particularly in eastern Germany, over its anti-immigration, anti-Islam position.

BSW promises higher pensions, better schools, less immigration without excluding refugees, better jobs but fewer onerous regulations for employers.

The BSW won an impressive 6.2% of the vote in June's European Parliament elections and is expected to come third in Thuringia's state election on Sunday.

The AfD goes into Sunday's poll in the lead, with about 30% support.

The eastern state of Saxony is also holding an election on Sunday, where the AfD and the conservative CDU are running neck and neck for the top spot. The BSW is again in third place.

The AfD is also leading the polls in a third former East German state, Brandenburg, which is set to hold an election later in September. The BSW is in fourth place.

In all three states, the far-right is unlikely to come to power as other parties have ruled out joining an AfD coalition. 

That could allow Wagenknecht's BSW to play kingmaker in the new governments of the three states.

mm/rc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)