A member of the European Parliament and her assistant were attacked — and the latter hospitalized — by members of a far-right organization in southern Italy.

According to Italian news agency Ansa, five or six members of CasaPound, a far-right Italian group, attacked anti-racism demonstrators in Bari late Friday night, resulting in two demonstrators needing hospital treatment. The CasaPound members were armed with bats, according to Ansa.

The far-left European United Left–Nordic Green Left group said it "strongly condemns yesterday’s attack by ‘Casapound’ fascist squads against MEP Eleonora Forenza [a member of the leftist group], her assistant Antonio Perillo — who has suffered serious injuries — and others who took part in an anti-racist demonstration," it wrote in a statement.

"This is yet another incident of violent aggression by this fascist organization and must be a source of grave concern for every democratic citizen of Italy and Europe," the group wrote, adding that "any attack on peaceful protests is an attack on democracy."

Forenza has been an MEP since 2014 and stood as the far-left candidate to be European Parliament president in 2017.