German police officer among several injured in knife attack

An attacker with a knife has wounded several people in a square in the south-western German city of Mannheim.

Police shot at the attacker, who also was hurt.

Officers said the incident happened shortly after 11.30am on Friday.

They said that they could not immediately give any information on the severity of the injuries or specify exactly how many people were hurt. The victims included a police officer.

A spokesperson said that there was no longer any danger to the public.

A group called Pax Europa, which describes itself as an organisation that informs the public about the dangers posed by the “increasing spread and influence of political Islam”, said the attack happened on the sidelines of an event it staged.

It said that Michael Sturzenberger, an anti-Islam activist who has spoken at its events, was among those wounded.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that it is up to investigators to determine a motive.

She said that “if the investigation shows an Islamist motive, that would be another confirmation of the great danger from Islamist acts of violence that we have warned of”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X that “the pictures from Mannheim are terrible” and that “violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy”.

The stabbings happened on the Marktplatz, a square in Mannheim’s downtown area. The city of about 300,000 people is located south of Frankfurt.