“As Germans and Europeans, we do not have the luxury of watching was happened in Washington and saying, ‘Well, that could never happen here,'” Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin.

The European continent is also home to “people whose idea of democracy and democratic dissent is completely different than to what it should be in a liberal democracy,” Seibert said.

Hundreds of supporters of outgoing US President Donald Trump stormed Capitol in Washington on Wednesday. Shots were fired and five people were killed in the violence.

The mob forced a halt to a Congressional joint sitting in which lawmakers were in the process of confirming the result of the November 2020 election, in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump.

Seibert said that anti-democratic “forces on the extreme-right fringes” also posed a risk in Germany and Europe.

A spokesman for the German Interior Ministry stressed that the Reichstag in Berlin, the seat of the national parliament, has comprehensive security in place.

On August 29, hundreds of right-wing extremists stormed the steps of the Reichstag on the sidelines of demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions. A handful of police officers blocked them from enterting the building.

Months later, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party caused a scandal when it allowed members of the public into parliament to harrass lawmakers. That was also linked to anger over lockdown measures.