A local candidate for the far-right AfD party was attacked with a knife in Mannheim according to media reports. The victim was allegedly injured and the perpetrator was arrested.

A local council candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was attacked with a knife late on Tuesday, the party said on Wednesday.

The politician was injured in the incident, which the German DPA news agency reported happened at about 10:45 p.m. (2045 GMT/UTC) on Tuesday evening.

Police have declined to confirm or deny the incident. They said they would issue a statement later in the day.

DPA reported that the victim had required hospital treatment for cuts and that the perpetrator had been arrested.

The leader of the regional branch of the AfD told the AFP news agency that the candidate was attacked after confronting a person trying to remove an election poster on Tuesday. 

Mannheim AfD councilor Jörg Finkler said his 62-year-old friend and colleague had suffered injuries to the ear and stomach.

“We are shocked and dismayed,” said AfD state chairman Markus Frohnmaier.

The alleged incident comes just days after another stabbing attack in the same city when a policeman was killed during a demonstration by the anti-Islamic group Pax Europa.

Mannheim AfD council member 

String of political attacks

Germany has been shocked by a series of attacks on politicians while they were working or on the campaign trail ahead of elections for the European Parliament.

A European Parliament lawmaker for Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats,  Matthias Ecke, was attacked by a group of youths last month while putting up election posters in the eastern city of Dresden.

Only days later, the former Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey was hit on the head and neck with a bag containing hard objects as she visited a library in the capital.