A 29-year-old police officer died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed during the attack at an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim, south-western Germany on Friday.
Several other people were wounded in the attack that took place in the city's market square. They had been taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam.
The policeman had been "stabbed several times in the area of the head" while trying to intervene. He underwent "emergency surgery and was put in an artificial coma", but "died of his injuries" on Sunday, police said.
Since that attack and particularly since news of the policeman's death broke tensions have been high in the city and the stabbings has brought the threat of Islamic terrorism and the danger of the far right back into focus.
What have the reactions been?
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was "deeply saddened" by the death of the police officer following the "terrible attack".
"His commitment to the safety of all of us deserves the highest recognition," Scholz said on X, formerly Twitter.
If an Islamist motive behind the attack were to be confirmed, "that shows how strongly we must continue to fight Islamist terror", Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.
"Our security authorities have the Islamist scene firmly in their sights," Faeser added.
"We must defend ourselves against Islamist terrorism with determination, and we will also strengthen the security authorities financially," Finance Minister Christian Lindner told German daily Bild.
Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, with the country's domestic intelligence chief warning that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time".
Among those left wounded in the attack was Michael StĂĽrzenberger, who has been observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as engaging in permanent agitation against Islam.
According to reporting by TAZ, since the attack StĂĽrzenberger has been giving interviews from his hospital bed to right-wing media outlets.
Members of the far-right AfD party were quick to try and use the attack for political gain. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel falsely attributed a quote to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser following the attack.
The German government has criticised the head of the AfD for citing the fake statement, and Wiedel has since apologised. But the misinformation has continued to spread online.
Protests from both sides of the political spectrum
In Mannheim, the city’s market square has been the scene of tense protests since the attack.
According to a report by Zeit, a non-partisan alliance called for a vigil against violence and hatred on Sunday. Protestors are seen holding signs that read: “Basic law - freedom and dignity since 1949”, or, “Mannheim - we’ve been coming here from everywhere since 1607”.
But at the same time there was a rally organised by the Young Alternative, the AfD’s youth organisation that is a confirmed extremist organisation, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) since 2023.
Appalled by anti-right wing protests, voices on the far-right are calling loudly for “remigration” (meaning the deportation of large amounts of immigrants in Germany).
On Monday “Mannheim'' was trending on social media platform X, and predictably top posts on the topic were severely divisive.Â
READ ALSO: A fight for the youth vote - Are German politicians social media savvy enough?
With reporting by AFP
Comments