A man attacked several people with a knife on a market square in Mannheim, including the Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger. The police then shot the attacker. All news about the attack in the news ticker.

4:08 p.m.: FOCUS online learned from security circles that the injured officer had lost a lot of blood. His condition remains critical.

3:29 p.m.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz was shocked by the violent attack in Mannheim. “The images from Mannheim are terrible,” the SPD politician wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Several people were seriously injured by an attacker. My thoughts are with the victims. Violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy. The perpetrator must be severely punished.”

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) spoke of a terrible crime. “The images of this brutal act of violence are shocking.” She hoped that the victims would be able to make a full recovery. “My thoughts are especially with the police officer who was seriously injured by knife wounds. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the police officers who intervened immediately and to the doctors and rescue workers who are fighting for the lives of the victims of this terrible act.”

The investigations would clarify the background of the crime, especially the background and motives of the perpetrator, wrote Faeser. “If the investigations reveal an Islamist motive, then that would be a further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence that we have warned about.”

3:14 p.m.: Karl Appel, spokesman for the Mannheim police, told “ntv” that the video of the attack that is circulating on social media is part of the investigation. The video also shows the police shooting the attacker. “The police shot the attacker and thereby fended off another attack,” said Appel. The emergency services have set up protective barriers at the crime scene, the market square in Mannheim. The major situation itself is over, Appel told “ntv”. The injured have been taken to hospitals where they are being treated. Forensic scientists are currently securing evidence at the crime scene. This will continue into the evening, Appel continued. The Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation has taken over the investigation. Witnesses are also being sought. “They will also be looking for further videos.”

3:06 p.m.: Tübingen Mayor Boris Palmer expressed his horror at the brutal knife attack in Mannheim and told Bild: “Attacks on dissidents and the police are a stab in the heart of democracy. Our state must become more defensive here, regardless of the perpetrator’s origins and the victim’s opinion.” CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt also spoke about the terrible bloodbath: “This brutal attack is absolutely shocking. Our sympathy goes out to the injured, the eyewitnesses and especially to the police officer who was injured in the line of duty.”

Psychologist and author Ahmad Mansour told Bild: “This is clearly Islamism, a religiously motivated act. And in this spectrum, this is certainly not a lone perpetrator. There is an entire industry behind it, which is why many critics of Islam no longer leave their homes without police protection.”

2:43 p.m.: Shortly before the knife attack on his life, Michael Stürzenberger recorded a video. He described the mood on the market square in Mannheim and talked about a visit from an angry Muslim.

2:34 p.m.: Rainer Wendt, Federal Chairman of the German Police Union, explained in an interview with the “Welt” newspaper that “from what we know, several extremists clashed with each other. The victim and the perpetrator. One of the reasons could be that the victim was attacked because he is such a radical critic of Islam.” Stürzenberger’s history would at least suggest this, Wendt continued. However, nothing is known about the perpetrator.

Wendt further explains that it is life-threatening for an officer to get into close range of such an offender, a “knife hero”, and that it is unreasonable for the officers to do so.

2:28 p.m.: The Pax Europa alliance, of which Stürzenberger is a member, has provided an update on the attack on its website. According to the report, Stürzenberger suffered “serious stab wounds to his face and leg.” The police officer who was attacked is in critical condition.

2:27 p.m.: “The attack has shaken us, shocked us, left us speechless, and my thoughts at that moment are with the wounded officers, but also with the other victims,” ​​said Mannheim’s mayor Christian Specht in a statement to “ntv”. “We know that the rescue organizations are doing everything they can to provide the victims with the best possible care. It’s about not speculating, but waiting for the investigations and getting an overview of the processes, what actually happened, so that we can then actually provide information.”

2:17 p.m.: The attacker from Mannheim attacked Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger (59). “It was not an attack, but an act of terror. 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,” Stefanie Kizina, treasurer of the citizens’ movement Pax Europa (BPE), told “Bild”. Stürzenberger wanted to take part in the movement’s rally as a speaker. According to Kizina, he was hit in the leg and face and will undergo emergency surgery. “There is apparently no danger to his life.” According to Kizina, the knife attack is already the second serious attack on him. In 2022, Stürzenberger was punched in the face by a Muslim.

2.10 p.m.: A spokesman told the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper that the police officer who was attacked was seriously injured. There is no further information about the condition of the victims or the attacker.

On Friday, an unknown person attacked Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger with a knife on a market square in Mannheim. Others were injured, including a police officer. The officers then shot the attacker.

The police could not initially say exactly how many people were injured in the attack and how serious the injuries were.

A video on social media shows the brutal attack. It shows an unknown man attacking a man and throwing him to the ground, repeatedly stabbing him with a knife.

Several people try to stop the unknown perpetrator, but are unable to hold him on the ground or disarm him. When a police officer intervenes, the attacker stabs the officer as well. More police officers rush to the scene, one of them shoots the attacker with his pistol, causing him to fall to the ground.

According to police, a rescue helicopter is in use. The condition of the victims is currently unclear. The police were initially unable to say how many people were injured in the attack and how serious the injuries were. There is no danger to the public, said a police spokeswoman.

The motive for the crime is currently unclear. Whether the knife attack had a political background is the subject of investigations. Rescue workers and a rescue helicopter are on duty, said the police spokeswoman. The market square has been cordoned off and privacy screens have been put up.

The Mannheim market square is located in the middle of the city center of the 300,000-inhabitant city in the north of Baden-Württemberg.