RT, March 11, 2020

A trend of assaulting non-mainstream politicians over their views seems to be taking root in Germany, with a car owned by the head of the AfD party’s Berlin branch being set on fire in the second such incident in over a week.

Arsonists set ablaze a greyish Skoda belonging to Nicolaus Fest, provisional head of Alternative for Germany’s Berlin branch and member of the European Parliament, on Tuesday night. While the arson attack didn’t destroy the entire car, it badly damaged the engine and the front part of the vehicle.

The Berlin wing of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party believes the incident was due to their dissenting views. “The arsonists sit in the strategy-making back rooms of the traditional parties, in which new hate campaigns against the AfD are devised every day,” it tweeted, posting an image of the damaged car.

Berlin police have confirmed the incident and launched an investigation into the damage of property due to “a possible political motivation.”

Fest, who is also a member of the European Parliament for AfD, lashed out at the “left-wing violence,” adding that the other parties “cheer on leftist radical perpetrators behind such acts.”

The arson is only the latest in a string of attacks on AfD members. Last January, an explosive device was ignited near the party office in the eastern town of Doebeln. Later that month, an AfD state chairman was beaten unconscious in Bremen by masked assailants.

Earlier this month, the right-wing party’s chief’s car was also set on fire in Gablenz, Saxony, with police unable to find the perpetrators to this day.