Clowns attack AfD leader with a cake

The two approached von Storch while carrying the cream-filled cake and singing Happy Birthday in a Kassel hotel on Sunday. One of two men then threw the dessert at her face, while the other, also in costume, recorded the stunt.

Beatrix von Storch, the deputy leader of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and a member of the EU parliament, was attending a closed-door party meeting. Her colleagues grabbed hold of the attackers and called police, an AfD spokesman said.

"People with no arguments tear down posters, burn cars and disrupt meetings with pies," von Storch said after the episode.

The incident was soon claimed by a group of Berlin performance artists calling themselves "Peng Collective." The group said they organized the stunt as a response to recent comments made by von Storch, who suggested that security forces should be allowed to shoot migrant women with children entering Germany illegally.

Later, von Storch somewhat softened her stance after being faced with public outrage over her remarks.

However, the activists said that the cake was meant to prevent crossing of "moral boundaries."

"Cake-throwing is the final tool at the border crossing to inhumanity and an urgent expression of direct democracy," the group said on their website.

"Cake crust: 89 cents, whipped cream 99 cents, von Storchs' face: Priceless," the group posted on their Twitter feed.

The German AfD party has seen a rapid rise in the past months as the country is struggling with a record number of immigrants. AfD seems set to enter three state parliaments in regional elections in March.