“Violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy,” responded German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this Friday, May 31, after a man stabbed six people in Mannheim, Germany. A police officer was very seriously injured. The man attacked the gathering of an anti-Islam movement. All the injured people were hospitalized and some underwent emergency surgery, including the police officer who remained in critical condition during the evening. Olaf Scholz called the act an “attack.”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser raised the possibility of an Islamist act for this attack which occurs a few days before the European elections scheduled for June 9 in the country. “If the investigation reveals an Islamist motive, it will be further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence, against which we have warned,” she said in a statement, referring to a “terrible crime “.
The attacker was shot and injured
According to the magazine Der Spiegelthe attacker was born in Herat in Afghanistan, he is 25 years old and his name is Suleiman A. He was not listed until now as radicalized but seems to have acted for Islamist motivations, adds the Spiegel. The young man was himself shot and injured by the police during his neutralization.
Local police reported that the attacker first attacked “several participants in a rally” of the Pax Europa Citizen Movement at the end of the morning. This political movement indicates on its website that it wants to warn against “the dangers of the influence of political Islam on democratic societies in Germany and Europe”.
One of its leaders, Stefanie Kizina, denounced “a targeted attack” primarily targeting a prominent member of this group, Michael Stürzenberger, known for years as an anti-Islam activist in Germany. The latter, close to far-right circles, was injured in particular “in the face and legs”, she added. According to several media, including the daily Bild, Michael Stürzenberger was preparing to speak at his movement’s rally. Aged 59, he was in the past spokesperson for the Bavarian conservative CSU party in Munich, before becoming closer to movements close to the extreme right and anti-Islam.
In recent months, several police operations have targeted Islamist circles and, according to the authorities, made it possible to avoid attacks. The deadliest jihadist attack committed on German soil dates back to December 2016. It was a ram truck attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, which left 12 dead at a Christmas market in the very center from Berlin.