AfD: Candidate attacked with knife

“In Mannheim, our local council candidate Heinrich Koch was injured with a knife during an altercation with people who were destroying a poster,” said AfD federal chairman Tino Chrupalla on X, formerly Twitter.

Koch is being treated for his injuries following the incident on Tuesday, the AfD’s state chairman in Baden-Württemberg, Emil Sänze, told AFP.

In several federal states, including Baden-Württemberg, local elections will take place on 9 June, simultaneously with the elections to the European Parliament.

The incident occurred five days after a 25-year-old Afghan man attacked an anti-Islamic rally on Mannheim’s market square, killing one person and injuring five.

The attack on Friday was directed against an event organized by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam.

Five participants in the rally were injured, including the right-wing extremist activist and blogger Michael Stürzenberger.

A 29-year-old police officer who intervened in the incident suffered multiple stab wounds to the head and succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

The attacker was shot and injured by police at the scene. The suspect faces possible murder, attempted murder and five counts of grievous bodily harm.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is currently investigating the reasons for Friday’s attack, with several government officials pointing to a possible Islamist motive.

“Our members and representatives are the most frequent victims of political violence,” said Chrupalla.

The attacks “cannot stop us,” added the AfD leader.

In Germany, the run-up to the EU elections saw a flood of attacks on politicians from across the political spectrum at work or during the election campaign.

Matthias Ecke, a European parliamentarian for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party, was attacked by a group of youths last month while putting up election posters in Dresden.

Days later, former Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey was hit on the head and neck with a bag while visiting a library in the capital.

High-ranking government members have also been confronted with angry mobs in recent months; Economics Minister Robert Habeck, for example, was prevented from leaving a ferry by a group of demonstrators.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned last month that Germans should “never get used to violence in the battle of political opinions.”

Steinmeier made his statement almost five years after the murder of conservative politician Walter Lübcke, who was murdered by neo-Nazis in 2019.

Sea/hmn/bc