Police officer dies after assault at anti-Islam rally in Germany | EUROtoday

Issued on: 02/06/2024 – 20:34

1 min

A knife-wielding man attacked and wounded a number of individuals Friday in the marketplace sq. within the metropolis of Mannheim in southwest Germany.

Five individuals collaborating in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a marketing campaign group in opposition to radical Islam, had been wounded within the assault.

The policeman was “stabbed several times in the area of the head” whereas making an attempt to intervene, native police stated in an announcement.

Immediately following the assault, he underwent “emergency surgery and was put in an artificial coma”, however “died of his injuries” on Sunday, police stated.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life of the police officer following the “terrible attack”.

“His commitment to the safety of all of us deserves the highest recognition,” Scholz stated on X, previously Twitter.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner advised German day by day Bild the loss of life of the police officer “moves me deeply and makes me angry about what is happening in our country”.

“We must defend ourselves against Islamist terrorism with determination, and we will also strengthen the security authorities financially,” Lindner stated.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Friday referred to as for an intensive investigation into the circumstances of the assault.

“If the investigations reveal an Islamist motive, this would be a further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence,” she stated in an announcement.

Germany has been on excessive alert for attainable Islamist assaults because the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas struggle, with the nation’s home intelligence chief warning that the danger of such assaults is “real and higher than it has been for a long time”.

The nation had additionally seen a spate of assaults on politicians at work or on the marketing campaign path forward of EU elections on June 9.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stated final week that he was frightened by the rising development and stated Germans “must never get used to violence in the battle of political opinions”.

(AFP)