German cop dies after stabbing at anti-Islam rally: police

Berlin:

A 29-year-old police officer died Sunday after being stabbed multiple times in an attack at an anti-Islam rally in Germany.

A man armed with a knife attacked and injured several people on Friday on the market square in the southwestern German city of Mannheim.

Five people attending a rally organized by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were injured in the attack.

The police officer was “stabbed several times in the head” while he tried to intervene, local police said in a statement.

Immediately after the attack, he underwent “emergency surgery and was placed in an induced coma” but “died from his injuries” on Sunday, police said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “deeply saddened” by the death of the police officer following the “terrible attack”.

“His commitment to the safety of all of us deserves the highest recognition,” Scholz said on X, formerly Twitter.

If the Islamist motive behind the attack were to be confirmed, “it would show how firmly we must continue to fight Islamist terrorism,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.

“Our security authorities have the Islamist scene in their sights,” Faeser added.

“We must defend ourselves decisively against Islamist terrorism and we will also financially strengthen the security authorities,” Finance Minister Christian Lindner told German daily Bild.

Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, with the country's domestic intelligence chief warning that the risk of such attacks is “real and higher than that.” 'he hasn't been for a long time.'

The country has also witnessed a wave of attacks against politicians at work or on the campaign trail in the run-up to the June 9 European elections.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier last week expressed concern about the growing trend and said Germans “should never get used to violence in the battle of political opinions.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)