Stabbing Attack in Germany; Attacker Also Injured Police Officer

On Friday, June 1, a man armed with a knife attacked a far-right extremist group's event in Mannheim, southwestern Germany, and was shot and injured by police. Social media images show a bearded man attacking people in the city's central square with a knife. In these images, it appears that the attacker injured one person in the leg and a police officer in the neck with knife strikes. After a continued struggle, police officers eventually shot the attacker, who fell to the ground. Mannheim police confirmed in a statement that they shot the attacker. The identity or motive of this individual is still unknown, and the police have not provided further details about the injured. The event was organized by an anti-Islam far-right group in Mannheim, where Michael Stürzenberger, an anti-Islam activist, was scheduled to speak. One of Stürzenberger's colleagues told Bild newspaper that he was stabbed in the face and leg. Bild reported that the injured police officer is under medical care. This attack occurs in the final days of the European Parliament election campaigns. The far-right Alternative for Germany party has made the threat posed by immigration from Islamic countries a central theme of its campaign. Nancy Faeser, Germany's interior minister, stated, 'If investigations reveal that there was an Islamist motive in this attack, it would be further confirmation of the significant danger posed by Islamist violence that we have warned about.' Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, said on social media platform X that the attacker must be severely punished. Stürzenberger, 59, who identifies as a critical journalist of Islam, is a member of several far-right anti-Islam organizations and participates in many events held in Germany, especially in the eastern part of the country.