Man sprays paint at German party leader during campaign event

Sahra Wagenknecht attacked while about to speak on stage in run-up to Thuringia and Saxony state elections

The leader of a breakaway populist leftwing party in Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht, has been sprayed with pink paint while campaigning in elections in the eastern state of Thuringia.

Wagenknecht, a former high-profile member of the far-left party Die Linke who this year founded the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), was attacked on stage on Thursday as she prepared to address crowds in Erfurt. She ducked as a man approached the stage and spattered paint in her direction, which hit her dress and face.