German police shot and wounded a knifeman who attacked an anti-Islamism rally in the German city of Mannheim on Friday. Among the casualties were anti-Islamism activist Michael Stürzenberger and a policeman.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on X that “if the investigation reveals an Islamist motive, then that would be further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence that we have warned about.” German authorities have been on increased alert for Islamist terrorism since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7th.
Social media footage showed a bearded man attacking people in the city’s central Marktplatz square with a knife. One police officer was fighting for his life in the hospital on Friday evening after having been stabbed at least twice in the head, Bild reported.
Stürzenberger, a well-known anti-Islamism activist and leader of the German branch of Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), was appearing as a speaker at the event, arranged by the grassroots organization Pax Europa. He was targeted by the attacker while standing by an Israeli and a German flag next to a sign saying “Stop political Islam!”
A bystander initially intervened and attempted to stop the perpetrator, as did one of Stürzenberger’s employees, but the knifeman pulled free.
Police, already at the market square to provide protection for the event, initially mistook a Pax Europa security guard for the assailant. As a police officer was holding down the wrong person, the bearded young knife wielding man stabbed the officer in the head.
Stefanie Kizina of Pax Europa told Bild:
This was not an attack, but an act of terror. The attack happened before the event even started, it must have been planned well in advance. Criticism of religion must be allowed, it is a core element of the European Enlightenment!
This was only the latest case of politically motivated violence in Germany, coming only days before the European elections. Less than a month ago, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced a planned crackdown on political violence after socialist MEP Matthias Ecke (SPD, S&D) was brutally beaten.
In 2023, over 230 violent offenses against politicians were registered by the German police. Out of those, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was targeted 86 times, the Greens 62 times, and the social-democrat SDP 35.
