国际英语新闻:German politicians voice dismay over brutal attack on German AfD politician

BERLIN, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Several German politicians voiced dismay over a brutal attack on AfD politician Frank Magnitz via Twitter on Tuesday.

On Monday evening, Magnitz suffered serious head injuries after he was attacked by three people. The politician of the populist far-right party AfD is still being treated in hospital.

The attack had been a "politically-motivated attempted assassination," the local AfD branch in Bremen said in a Facebook statement and posted an image of the injured politician. The AfD also credited a "courageous intervention of a construction worker" who had stepped in and possibly saved Magnitz's life.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had demanded punishment for "anyone who commits such a crime". He stated on Twitter that "violence should never be a means of political confrontation, no matter who or what the motives are. There is no justification for this".

German police state security (ST) and the public prosecutor's office in Bremen have launched investigations into the attack.

General secretary of German social democrats (SPD) Lars Klingbeil also voiced against politically motivated violence. "When someone takes a radically different political position, I put arguments, commitment and passion against it. Violence has no place in the political debate. Violence is cowardly," Klingbeil wrote on Twitter.

The former head of Germany's green party Cem Oezdemir expressed hope that the perpetrators will soon be identified and also renounced any form of violence. "Even towards the AfD, there is no justification for violence".

Spokesperson of AfD party Joerg Meuthen was shocked about the incident and was "unable to comment on this further".