Police video throws AfD's claims over attacked politician into doubt

Officials question politician's assault account

A far-right politician's claim that he was beaten with bars and kicked during an assault appears to have been contradicted by CCTV footage released by German authorities.

Frank Magnitz, state chairman for the Alternative fur Deutchland (AfD) party said he was attacked with a wooden bar or that he was kicked in the head after attending a reception in Bremen.

Mr Magnitz claimed that the assault was an assassination attempt by extremist leftists in an interview with the Die Welt newspaper. He also said that the beating was likely carried out by extremist leftists.

The footage does show three unidentified men, with their hoods pulled up, following Mr Magnitz into a passage.

One of the men hits him from behind and the three run away as the politician falls to the floor.

"We believe that all the injuries resulted from the fall," a spokesman for the Bremen prosecutor's office said.

He added that there was no evidence that the far-right figure had been attacked with a wooden bar or that he was kicked in the head.

The AfD had earlier posted a picture on Twitter after the assault, showing the politician on a stretcher with a deep wound to his forehead and a bruised left eye.

It prompted public figures from across the political spectrum to condemn the attack.

But a party spokesperson has now told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain that the AfD would have written a different news release based on its current information.

They claimed that wooden bars were used in the attack came from a construction worker on the scene, although there is no evidence of this in the footage.

Police said they were nonetheless continuing to investigate the incident and described it as a politically motivated attack.

Additional reporting by agencies