Attack with irritant on AfD stand in Bad Kreuznach – nine injured
An unknown attacker poured a caustic liquid onto an AfD campaign stand in Bad Kreuznach. Nine people were injured, with two politicians taken to hospital.
Caustic liquid hits AfD politicians and visitors in Bad Kreuznach
An AfD campaign stand in Bad Kreuznach was attacked with an aggressive liquid on Wednesday afternoon. According to BILD, at least nine people were injured – including AfD parliamentary group deputy Sebastian Münzenmaier (36), federal parliamentary representative Nicole Höchst (56), and two Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament deputies. Two of those affected were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
According to initial investigations, the highly irritating substance was poured from an adjacent building onto the stand and the people present there. The liquid splashed off the stand canopy and hit politicians and visitors, who mostly sustained minor skin irritations. Münzenmaier showed redness on his neck the day after the attack, according to an AfD spokesman quoted by BILD.
Höchst made serious allegations on the platform X: "Concentrated chlorophenol (disinfectant) from a laboratory on Roßstraße at the corner of Mannheimer Straße was dumped from the window onto the stand and the people present." She described the incident as a "cowardly attack". Chlorophenol is considered hazardous to health and toxic, and is readily absorbed through the skin.
Münzenmaier commented to BILD: "The attack on my fellow campaigners and me shows: our opponents have run out of arguments completely. Anyone who thinks they need to fight us with chemicals instead of arguments has already lost the political contest. To the perpetrators I say: we will not be intimidated by such methods."
A police spokesman stated that, given the small amount of the substance involved, no serious injuries were to be expected based on current knowledge. Whether chlorophenol or another liquid was actually used would still be investigated.
In the Brückenhäuser area, a large contingent of police, fire service and emergency services arrived. A suspect was apprehended on site and is to be questioned in the coming days. The political background to the act and possible additional perpetrators remain the subject of ongoing investigations.
Source: BILD