In Germany, the candidate of the country’s social democrats in the EP elections was attacked and seriously injured

The report is supplemented with a quote from the German chancellor.

A 41-year-old man was attacked on Friday evening in Dresden. Representatives of the SPD party also shared the circumstances of the event.

Henning Homann, head of the SPD’s Saxony branch, told German newspaper Bild that Ms Ecke was attacked by three or four unknown men, insulted with homophobic slurs and then beaten.

According to Bild, Ms Ecke suffered broken bones. A representative of the SPD party told the newspaper that the man will likely have to be treated in hospital next week.

German police said that before this incident, another 28-year-old man was attacked while hanging Green Party posters in the same area. This man was also injured, but did not require serious medical attention.

Authorities believe the attackers were the same in both cases.

Mr. Homann and his regional party colleague Kathrin Michel called the attacks “a wake-up call for everyone in this country.”

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, also of the SPD, warned of a new “wave of anti-democratic violence” in the country.

The SPD party said in a statement that there had been other attempts to intimidate and destroy the posters. The attack is currently being investigated by the Violent Crime Task Force of the Saxon Criminal Police Office.

The SPD blamed supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the attack on Ms Ecke.

“The party’s supporters are currently misled and apparently see us, the supporters of democracy, as a fair and legitimate target,” the SPD said in a statement.

Saxony is one of AfD’s political strongholds.

O. Scholz condemns the attack

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack on the MEP on Saturday.

“Such an act threatens democracy. We must never condone such acts of violence. We have to resist it together,” the chancellor told the Congress of the European Socialist Parties in Berlin, adding that such attacks stemmed from “the discourse, the atmosphere, which is fueled by people’s antagonism”.

The state security services leading the investigation emphasize that the police suspect political motives for the crime. This is not the first such case in recent weeks.

Two Green Party deputies were insulted and one punched in the face during an election campaign in the western German city of Essen on Thursday, police said.

Last Saturday in East Germany, dozens of demonstrators surrounded the car of Deputy Speaker Katrin Goering-Eckardt, who is also from the Green Party. The politician could leave only after police reinforcements were called to the scene.