German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Union leaders denounced on Saturday a recent spate of attacks on politicians in Germany, including one that sent a member of the European Parliament to hospital with serious injuries.
Matthias Ecke, 41, a member of Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), was hit and kicked on Friday by a group of four people while putting up posters in Dresden, capital of the eastern state of Saxony, police said. An SPD source said his injuries would require an operation.
Shortly before, what appeared to be the same group attacked a 28-year-old campaigner for the Greens, who was also putting up posters, police said, although his injuries were not as severe.
"Democracy is threatened by this kind of thing," Scholz told a convention of European socialists in Berlin.
Saxony premier Michael Kretschmer, a conservative, said such aggression and attempts at intimidation recalled the darkest era of German history, a reference to Nazi rule.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, a former German conservative minister, and the Italian head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, both condemned the attack on Ecke.
"The culprits must be brought to account," von der Leyen said on X.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser vowed "tough action and further protective measures" in response to the attacks.
Reuters