Police in the city of Leipzig have opened an attempted murder investigation after far-left extremists brutally attacked a police officer on New Year’s Eve, resulting in him needing emergency surgery.
The officers were attacked in the Connewitz district, well-known for its links to the far-left Antifa movement, on New Year’s Eve. Extremists launched fireworks at police, with a 38-year-old officer being rushed to hospital after receiving severe injuries, Deutsche Welle reports.
Seven men and two women have been arrested in connection with the incident that also saw officers attacked with rocks and bottles.
The leftist extremists were roundly condemned by German Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer who said: “This act shows that inhumane violence also emanates from left-wing extremists.”
Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), also condemned the attack warning that there was a “tough, small criminal and violent network” among the left-wing scene in the city.
“Unfortunately, the new year did not start peacefully at the Connewitzer Kreuz but started with a violent outbreak of criminal violence. My thoughts are with the injured police officer and his family and I wish him a speedy recovery,” Jung said.
The German Police Union (DPolG) federal chairman Rainer Wendt warned that the far-left in Germany are becoming “increasingly violent”.
“Left-wing Internet blogs and alternative media sites, in particular, are making no secret of their desire to violently resist the political system,” he said.
Wendt added that there is also a possibility that far-left extremists could create another terror group similar to the Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhof group, who operated from 1970 to 1998 and carried out robberies, hundreds of terrorist bombing attacks, and targeted assassinations.
In 2019 alone, Leipzig saw 357 attacks by left-wing extremists including arson attacks at construction sites that led to millions of euros in damages. In one incident, a number of extremists invaded the home of a female real estate employee and viciously beat her.