Germany: Man smears dog feces on far-right AfD politician Beatrix von Storch
Sunday, 27 August 2023 (11:17 IST)
German lawmaker Beatrix von Storch, of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), was smeared with feces during an event, she and police said.
Von Storch is the deputy leader of the AfD, which advocates anti-immigration and anti-green policies.
She was attacked on Friday in an event hall in the town of Daun in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
What did von Storch and police say about the attack?
"Yesterday there was another disgusting attack on me [and] the AfD in Rhineland-Palatinate," von Storch said in a video published on her account on the platform X, more commonly known by its former name Twitter.
"We fight with arguments; AfD-haters fight with feces," she said. "No matter what despicable means they resort to, we will fight unwaveringly and now more decisively for the spiritual and moral renewal of our nation."
The man was overpowered by police and is now under investigation. Von Storch told the German news agency dpa on Saturday that she had filed a complaint.
According to a statement issued on Saturday, police estimated that the AfD event had around 80-85 participants, while up to 120 people took part in a counter-demonstration outside the hall.
Officers said they had spoken with organizers of both events before they were held in order to ensure participants' right to assembly and freedom of speech.
Police said that a 35-year-old man entered the event hall and first asked to take a picture with von Storch, and then proceeded to smear her with dog feces. They added that the man "briefly" resisted arrest.
Von Storch, 52, has been the AfD's deputy leader since 2015 and has been a member of the Bundestag parliament since 2017. Before that, the euroskeptic politician was a Member of the European Parliament. A banker and lawyer before entering politics, she's also a descendant of the royal House of Oldenburg that once ruled part of what's now northwestern Germany.
