The man reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” before stabbing a prominent anti-Islam campaigner
German police shot and arrested a knife-wielding attacker after he brutally stabbed anti-Islam activist Michael Stuerzenberger at a rally in the German city of Mannheim on Friday. A police officer who intervened was also stabbed in the neck.
Stuerzenberger was preparing to deliver a speech in a market square at around 11:30am local time when he was charged by a bearded man wielding a long blade. The man stabbed Stuerzenberger numerous times, fighting off bystanders who tried to restrain him.
Several police officers arrived on the scene with pistols drawn. The attacker plunged his knife into the neck of one officer who was attempting to administer aid to Stuerzenberger, before he was shot and handcuffed.
The entire incident was caught on camera. The identity of the attacker is still unclear, although witnesses said on social media that he shouted “Allahu Akbar” before stabbing Stuerzenberger.
Police confirmed that “a firearm was used against the attacker,” but provided no further details.
Friday’s rally was organized by Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa (BPE), a group that has been campaigning since 2008 against the supposed “Islamization” of Europe. Stuerzenberger has been active in German right-wing circles for several decades, and led the populist German Freedom Party from 2013 until its dissolution in 2016.
“This was not an attack, but an act of terror,” BPE treasurer Stefanie Kizina told German tabloid BILD. “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!”
Stuerzenberger “was hit in the leg and face and is undergoing emergency surgery,” Kizina told BILD, adding that “his life is apparently not in danger.”
Alternative for Germany (AfD) deputy leader Beatrix von Storch, whose party is largely seen as a successor to the German Freedom Party, said that the attack showed how “more than ever,” Germany needs to “stop Islamism.”
