LEIPZIG (dpa-AFX) - A Green Party office has been attacked in Leipzig - presumably in connection with protests on Lützerath. According to police, stones were thrown at window panes, which were broken. The two affected members of the state parliament, Christin Melcher and Daniel Gerber, reacted with dismay on Thursday to the attack on Wednesday evening. According to witness statements it had occurred in the course of a spontaneous demonstration to Lützerath, they communicated. Police are investigating for breach of the peace and damage to property. A graffiti had been smeared on another building of the Greens.

"Peaceful protest is always legitimate, but such actions are completely unacceptable. Violence is never a means of democratic debate. Such acts of violence do a disservice to the climate movement," Melcher and Gerber said.

Referring to the anti-coal protests in the village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia, both stressed that it was part of democracy to compromise and accept court rulings. RWE has a legal right to mine coal in the Rhenish coalfield, they said. At the same time, the two Green politicians expressed "the greatest understanding" for demonstrating for more climate protection./bz/DP/men