Germany will temporarily reduce taxes on natural gas to ease the financial pressure on citizens struggling with rising energy prices, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced after he was booed at a town hall event outside the capital.

Rising gas prices are a great burden for many citizens, Scholz said, adding that additional measures will be announced in the coming weeks.

In addition to rising wholesale natural gas prices, consumers will have to pay a new surcharge to support energy companies trying to find new supplies on the world market.

Scholz said the reduction in the gas purchase tax would generally more than offset the new surcharges, effectively meaning they would be paid from the state treasury.

On Wednesday evening, Scholz faced an angry response from protesters at a town hall event in the town of Neuruppin, about 50 kilometers northwest of the capital.

Video footage shows several hundred people standing outside the security fence, some shouting "traitor" and "beat him."

The German news agency dpa reported that the protests were organized by the far-right Alternative for Germany party and the Left Party.