Incident at election campaign appearance: Left-wing politician throws foam cake at Lindner

After foam was thrown at FDP leader Christian Lindner at an election event in Greifswald, the police are investigating a local left-wing politician. A police spokesman said an official complaint was filed against the 34-year-old on suspicion of bodily harm and insults. Officers on site identified the woman’s personal details immediately after the attack, but did not take her into custody.

The ex-finance minister spoke to several people in a small hall at the election campaign event in Greifswald. Completely unexpectedly, the woman threw a foam cake in his face. Lindner smeared some of the foam back into her hair. The cake read “For the Love of Freedom.” Lindner remained uninjured. The thrower was brought to the ground by security guards, as can be seen in a dpa video.

The FDP politician took the incident in a decidedly relaxed manner. “Please don’t worry,” he told the audience. He tasted the foam and continued his speech. “Unfortunately it wasn’t cream, just soap,” he said. “At least they could have done that better, then I would have benefited from it,” said Lindner as he wiped off the foam with a napkin.

The thrower is the left-wing local politician Christiane Kiesow from Greifswald. This was confirmed by Left Party leader Hennis Herbst in response to a dpa request, who had previously clearly distanced himself from his party colleague’s actions. Kiesow is a member of the Peene-Uecker-Ryck district board, which also includes the city of Greifswald.

The federal leadership of the Left also criticized the foam throwing. “Cake throwing as a form of political debate between democratic parties is not part of our form of action, we are looking for content-based debate,” said Federal Managing Director Janis Ehling when asked. “We will also discuss these values ​​with the comrade in direct exchange.”

During election campaigns, politicians seek to be close to voters

As head of the FDP and the Federal Minister of Finance until the traffic lights were turned off, Lindner is still one of the particularly protected people in Germany. The risk assessment is carried out by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which provides bodyguards.

At the start of the election campaign the day before in a public square in Potsdam, the Brandenburg state police and the public order office were also represented. Stewards also stood in front of a double barrier consisting of stands and tapes. However: The election campaign is a special challenge because politicians seek to talk to voters, also want to allow close proximity and possibly move freely between people.

In response to a dpa inquiry, a BKA spokesman said that a participant from the audience had thrown a prop cake made of soap foam into Lindner’s face and was restrained by BKA forces. In order to guarantee the personal protection mandate, it does not apply that in principle no one is allowed to approach the person being protected. “Especially at election campaign events, it is common and desired for those campaigning to come into closer contact with the participants.” Part of professionally carrying out tasks is also to provide comprehensive follow-up to operations like this.

Lindner: “Nothing bothers me”

A short time after the incident in Greifswald, Lindner appeared in front of several hundred people at an election campaign event, just ten minutes late. The 46-year-old got out of the black limousine with a smile and greeted people with the words “Hello! How are you?” He only briefly commented on the incident in Greifswald with one sentence: “Nothing bothers me.” After his speech, he went to people to take selfies and discuss things with them. A group of young people protested against the FDP with chants.

Without directly addressing the foam throwing, Lindner warned in Rostock against brutalization in the political debate. “We must never be brutalized like the United States of America,” he said. “We have to preserve this inner liberality.”

Lindner personally welcomed Dietmar Bartsch, a left-wing member of the Bundestag, among the listeners on University Square. “The fact that we can come together as Democrats in a federal election campaign and hear each other’s arguments, even if we don’t share them – that is a sign of the political culture of our democracy.”

Politicians condemn the incident

Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized the foam being thrown at Lindner. “Attacks on politicians are not an expression of democratic behavior. Such actions are unseemly and dangerous,” he wrote on Platform X.

Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU) also condemned the foam attack. “This gives a foretaste of what we might experience here in this election campaign,” said the CDU chairman at an event organized by the Hamburg Business Journalists Club (CHW). Thank God it didn’t happen again. But the willingness to engage in violent political conflict appears to be increasing among parts of the population. “I hope we are spared this.”

Economics Minister and Green Party leading candidate Robert Habeck wrote on

The deputy FDP leader Wolfgang Kubicki was concerned after the foam was thrown. “Christian Lindner reacted correctly and responded to this attack with appropriate humor,” said the Vice President of the Bundestag to the German Press Agency in Berlin. “Nevertheless, such interventions are not particularly reassuring. Instead of a foam cake, it could have been something else.”

The designated FDP General Secretary Marco Buschmann recalled an agreement before the federal election. “Just a few weeks ago, the democratic parties agreed on a fairness agreement for the election campaign. Today we are witnessing a physical attack by a local left-wing politician on Christian Lindner,” he told the German Press Agency.