German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has received an icy welcome at a ‘European Festival’ organised by his own Social Democratic Party (SPD), reports the Russia Today.

Scholz was booed and whistled at as he sought to address a festival held in the town of Falkensee, in the German state of Brandenburg, near Berlin on Friday.

A group was also heard shouting liar and bandit while demanding peace without weapons and urging Scholz to go away.

According to the German tabloid Bild, some of the chancellor’s critics are associated with the country's right-wing scene and were wearing clothes bearing symbols of Russia and the anti-vaccination movement.

Scholz defended his government’s policies amid the chilly reception, insisting that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a warmonger for ordering the military operation in Ukraine.

He also dismissed his critics as loudmouths, adding that had they had any sense in [their] brains they would criticise the Russian leadership instead of him.

The chancellor was supported by Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke, who remarked that the demonstration belongs on the Red Square. Woidke, an SPD member, told the demonstrators that it was thanks to democracy and freedom that they were allowed to quarrel at the rally.

The German public also appeared to be wary of the massive military support Berlin provided to Kiev throughout the conflict. In a February survey, almost two-thirds of Germans polled opposed providing Kiev with fighter jets.

In December 2022, a YouGov poll indicated that 45pc were against sending German Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

A number of German celebrities and public figures have also sent two open letters to Scholz, in which they urged Berlin to stop supplying Ukrainian forces with arms and focus instead on reaching a ceasefire through peaceful means instead.