Prominent German leftist politician sprayed with a red liquid, likely paint, during campaign event

BERLIN (AP) — A prominent German leftist politician was sprayed with a red liquid, likely paint, during a campaign event Thursday in the eastern city of Erfurt, ahead of closely watched state elections on Sunday.

Sara Wagenknecht, founder of the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, was only lightly splattered by the liquid but briefly left the stage, according to German news agency dpa.

A man was immediately pushed to the ground by security forces, handcuffed and taken away. Wagenknecht returned to the stage and later wrote on the social media platform X that she was scared but fine.

While no one was injured in Erfurt, the incident comes as political violence in Germany is on the rise. In May, a prominent Berlin politician was violently assaulted and suffered injuries to her head and neck. Before that, a candidate from the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz was beaten up in the eastern city of Dresden while campaigning and had to undergo surgery.

Both government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months, and have called on police to step up protection for politicians and election rallies.

Wagenknecht was campaigning in Thuringia, one of two eastern states, along with Saxony, holding elections Sunday when the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, could become the strongest party for the first time.

But Wagenknecht, who formally launched her party in January, also hopes to shake up the picture as the national government has squabbled its way to deep unpopularity. Her party is known by its German acronym BSW.

High ratings for AfD and BSW, both at their strongest in the formerly communist east, have been fed in part by discontent with the national government. The parties in Scholz’s governing alliance squabbled publicly throughout the campaign for the European Parliament election in June and obtained dismal results. The internal hostilities have intensified over a summer plagued by disagreements about the 2025 budget.

Wagenknecht offers a combination of left-wing economic policy, with high wages and generous benefits, and a restrictive approach to migration. She also questions some environmentalists’ plans to combat climate change and opposes current sanctions against Russia, which was once Germany’s leading gas supplier, and German arms supplies to Ukraine.

She has declared that her party will only join state governments that have a “clear position for diplomacy and against the preparation of war.”

Sahra Wagenknecht, left, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Katja Wolf, Thuringian BSW State Chairwoman and top candidate for the state election in Thuringia 2024, and Christian Leye, BSW General Secretary, stand together on stage after an attack with red paint at the election campaign event on Domplatz, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Sahra Wagenknecht, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), stands on stage during the election campaign event on Erfurt Cathedral Square, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Sahra Wagenknecht, right, chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), and Katja Wolf, Thuringian BSW state chairwoman and top candidate for the 2024 state election in Thuringia, stand on stage after an attack with red paint at the election campaign event on Domplatz, Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Bodyguards take away a man who allegedly carried out an attack with red paint at an election campaign event organized by the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) on Cathedral Square, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Sahra Wagenknecht, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), is escorted off the stage by a bodyguard following an attack with red paint during the election campaign event on Domplatz, Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine made a new call Saturday on the West to allow it to strike deeper into Russia after a meeting between U.S. and British leaders a day earlier produced no visible shift in their policy on the use of long-range weapons.

“Russian terror begins at weapons depots, airfields, and military bases inside the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said Saturday. “Permission to strike deep into Russia will speed up the solution.”

The renewed appeal came as Kyiv said Russia launched more drone and artillery attacks into Ukraine overnight.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on allies to greenlight the use of Western-provided long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory. So far, the U.S. has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Discussions on allowing long-range strikes were believed to be on the table when U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Washington D.C. Friday but, no decision was announced immediately after the meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing the U.S. and other allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons to target air bases and launch sites further afield as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before winter.

He did not directly comment on the meeting Saturday morning, but said that more than 70 Russian drones had been launched into Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian airforce later said that 76 Russian drones had been sighted, of which 72 were shot down.

“We need to boost our air defense and long-range capabilities to protect our people,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “We are working on this with all of Ukraine’s partners.”

Other overnight attacks saw one person killed by Russian artillery fire as energy infrastructure was targeted in Ukraine’s Sumy region. A 54-year-old driver was killed and seven more people were hospitalized, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.

A KAB aerial bomb also fell on a garage complex in the eastern city of Kharkiv, said regional Gov. Ihor Terekhov. No injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have continued to make public statements warning that long-range strikes would provoke further escalation between Russia and the West. The remarks are in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency TASS Saturday that the U.S. and British governments were pushing the conflict, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, toward “poorly controlled escalation”.

Similar comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, where he said that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.” were brushed off by Biden Friday.

Asked what he thought about Putin’s threat, Biden answered, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

Elsewhere, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 19 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the country’s Kursk and Belgorod regions. No casualties were reported.

Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A Ukrainian reacts after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainians react after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A Ukrainian serviceman, left, is greeted after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)