Matthias Ecke, 41, a member of Faeser’s Social Democrats (SPD), was hit and kicked by a group of four people while putting up posters in Dresden, capital of the eastern state of Saxony, police said.
He told a congress of European socialist parties in Berlin that such attacks result from “the atmosphere created from pitting people against each other”.
Saxony premier Michael Kretschmer, a conservative, said such aggression and attempts at intimidation recalled the darkest era of German history, a reference to Nazi rule.
Nationwide, the number of attacks on politicians of parties represented in parliament has doubled since 2019, according to government figures published in January.
Faeser said the verbal hostility of extremists and populists towards democratic politicians was partly responsible for the rise in violence.
A surge in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) over the past year has taken it to second place in nationwide polls.
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