The Hague, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP)
A Dutch far-right MP was attacked for a second time in as many days after man wielding a beer bottle accosted him in a bar during an election campaign meeting, his party said.
Thierry Baudet was speaking to people in the bar in the northern city of Groningen on Monday evening when the incident happened.
Images posted on X, formerly Twitter, showed the politician greeting patrons when a man suddenly and violently hit him at least three times on the side of the head with what appeared to be a green beer bottle.
Baudet is immediately escorted out of the bar, while bystanders subdued the assailant, who was later arrested by police.
Baudet was taken to hospital, his Forum for Democracy (FvD) party said on X.
"It seems everything should be OK," the FvD added, but it was not known whether Baudet had been injured.
Baudet, a controversial lawmaker, has pushed various conspiracy theories and is known for his outspoken support of Moscow.
Last month he was pounced on at the Ghent University campus in Belgium by an umbrella-wielding man, suffering a light concussion.
Both assaults sparked furious reactions by Dutch politicians from across the political spectrum and calls for increased security for politicians.
The attacks are reviving memories of the 2002 killing of Pim Fortuyn, a populist anti-immigration politician who was assassinated after giving a radio interview while on the campaign trail.
His attacker, Volkert van der Graaf, an animal and environmental rights activist, was arrested at the scene and later sentenced to 18 years in jail.
Van der Graaf was released on parole in 2014.
jhe/pvh
Sumber : AFP