{"id":1076367,"date":"2026-07-08T14:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1076367\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T14:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:05:16","slug":"apollo-news-junge-freiheit-journalists-attacked-while-covering-protests-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1076367\/","title":{"rendered":"Apollo News, Junge Freiheit journalists attacked while covering protests in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Berlin, July 8, 2026\u2014German authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bild.de\/regional\/thueringen\/apollo-news-reporter-erklaeren-so-kam-es-zu-der-pruegelattacke-6a4900a8ad32e994f875b535\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">attacks<\/a> on at least four journalists who were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welt.de\/regionales\/thueringen\/article6a4b9e4d7edf43f08dbcfa94\/linke-verurteilt-angriffe-auf-reporter-bei-anti-afd-protest.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">covering protests<\/a> against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party during its annual conference on Saturday in Erfurt, eastern Germany, and bring all perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apollo-news.net\/tritte-gegen-den-kopf-drei-apollo-news-reporter-in-erfurt-brutal-zusammengeschlagen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Three reporters<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdfheute.de\/politik\/deutschland\/afd-parteitag-angriff-journalist-apollo-news-junge-freiheit-100.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">working<\/a> for news website Apollo News\u2014 Jonas Aston, Marius Marx, and a third whose name the outlet did not disclose \u2014 needed medical treatment after being chased, hit, kicked, and pelted with objects while documenting the protests outside the July 4 conference. They were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bild.de\/regional\/thueringen\/apollo-news-reporter-erklaeren-so-kam-es-zu-der-pruegelattacke-6a4900a8ad32e994f875b535\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">taken<\/a> by police to an ambulance, and Aston was later treated in hospital for a head wound.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Vadim Derksen, a reporter from the weekly Junge Freiheit, was <a href=\"https:\/\/jungefreiheit.de\/politik\/deutschland\/2026\/liveticker-zum-afd-parteitag-massive-linksextreme-krawalle-befuerchtet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">approached<\/a> from behind by a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MariamLau1\/status\/2073351308589814173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2073351308589814173%7Ctwgr%5Ea26a320b301e5252b63c032543f5939e2923be43%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fjungefreiheit.de%2Fpolitik%2Fdeutschland%2F2026%2Fliveticker-zum-afd-parteitag-massive-linksextreme-krawalle-befuerchtet%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\">masked<\/a> individual and punched in the face. His <a href=\"https:\/\/jungefreiheit.de\/politik\/deutschland\/2026\/widersetzen-billigt-angriffe-auf-journalisten\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">phone<\/a> was taken and later <a href=\"https:\/\/jungefreiheit.de\/politik\/deutschland\/2026\/liveticker-zum-afd-parteitag-massive-linksextreme-krawalle-befuerchtet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recovered<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe attacks on Apollo News and Junge Freiheit journalists in Erfurt are troubling and must be met with full accountability,\u201d said Attila Mong, CPJ\u2019s Europe representative. \u201cNo journalist should be chased, beaten, robbed, or obstructed while reporting on public events. Police must ensure that reporters can work safely and freely during demonstrations and political gatherings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thuringia State Police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.presseportal.de\/blaulicht\/pm\/125951\/6308345\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> that they had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welt.de\/regionales\/thueringen\/article6a4b9e4d7edf43f08dbcfa94\/linke-verurteilt-angriffe-auf-reporter-bei-anti-afd-protest.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">opened<\/a> an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdr.de\/nachrichten\/thueringen\/mitte-thueringen\/erfurt\/blockade-kundgebung,liveticker-afd-parteitag-110.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">investigation<\/a> into the attacks. CPJ emailed questions to the state police press department but did not receive any replies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berlin, July 8, 2026\u2014German authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into attacks on at least four&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1076368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5310],"tags":[294857,22055,2000,299,1824,294858,294859,294860,294861,294862],"class_list":["post-1076367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-apollo-news","tag-attacked","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-harassed","tag-jonas-aston","tag-junge-freiheit","tag-marius-marx","tag-vadim-derksen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116884742364482276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1076368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}