GERMANY – Images “horrible”, in the words of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Several people were injured by stab wounds this Friday, May 31, in a square in the center of Mannheim, in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
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Among the victims is Michael Stürzenberger, an anti-Islam activist, former president of the far-right party La Liberté (“Die Freiheit”). An attack which occurs in a context where attacks on elected officials and political leaders are making headlines in Germany.
· Facts
Michael Stürzenberger, an anti-Islam activist who was preparing to speak at a political meeting of his movement, and several people were “seriously injured” with a knife this Friday, May 31 in the afternoon by “ the author of an attack »said Chancellor Olaf Scholz on X. A police officer is also among the injured.
If the police did not give details of the facts, speaking only immediately of several people injured by stabbings, the political movement Michael Stürzenberger – Pax Europa Citizen Movement – confirmed the attack on its leader and many of its volunteers on its website.
The police detailed that they had shot the attacker. In images circulating on social networks, we see a young man armed with a dagger stabbing. Several men tried to control him on the ground, without success. The attacker manages to get up and hit a police officer in the back, before another officer neutralizes him by shooting him.
· The cellphone
According to Der Spiegelwho cites a police Source, “the motive for the crime is not clear at the moment”. The profile of the attacker is also not known. However, according to Bildthe attack was aimed at Michael Stürzenberger, whose life is not in danger, according to his entourage at Die Welt.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser raised the possibility of an Islamist act. “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 declared in a press release, speaking of “terrible crime”. “The perpetrator must be severely punished”asked Olaf Scholz.
· Who is Michael Stürzenberger?
Aged 59, the target of the attack was a member and spokesperson for the CSU, the Bavarian conservative party. The former sports journalist then moved closer to the far right by taking the helm of the La Liberté party in 2013. A position he retained until 2016, when the party dissolved in favor of the AfD .
Stürzenberger then joined the Pax Europa citizen movement, which intended to denounce “ the dangers of the influence of political Islam on democratic societies in Germany and Europe ».
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