Knifeman shot dead by police after stabbing at least three people at political rally in Germany

A knifeman injured several people, including a police officer, during a knife spree at a political rally in Germany.

The attacker struck shortly after 11:30 a.m. in Mannheim, in the southwest of the country, during an event organized by the Pax Europa Citizens' Movement (BPE), which campaigns against the “Islamization” of Europe.

Police shot the man, who was also injured in the brawl on Marktplatz, a square in the city's downtown.

Police said they could not immediately provide any information on the severity of the injuries.

Footage showed a bearded man with a knife attacking people before being shot dead by an armed officer.

One person appeared to have been stabbed in the leg and a police officer who attempted to intervene appeared to have been cut in the neck. Another police officer then shot the attacker.

“There is currently a major police operation on the market square in Mannheim,” local police said.

“A rescue helicopter is also used.”

Shortly before the attack, anti-Islam activist Michael Stuerzenberger was seen on a live broadcast preparing to give a speech to a small crowd in Mannheim, south of Frankfurt and population around 300,000.

The Pax Europa group, which describes itself as an organization that informs the public about “the dangers posed by the spread and growing influence of political Islam”, said the attack happened on the sidelines of a event she was organizing.

He said Mr. Sturzenberger was among the injured.

The violence comes in the home stretch of a European Parliament campaign in which the far-right Alternative for Germany party has campaigned in part on what it claims is the danger posed by immigration in from Muslim countries.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said it was up to investigators to determine the motive for the attack.

She said that “if the investigation reveals an Islamist motive, it would be further confirmation of the great danger posed by the Islamist acts of violence that we have been warning about.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on social media that the images from Mannheim were terrible and that “violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy.”

“The aggressor must be severely punished,” he added.

Mr. Stuerzenberger, 59, who describes himself as a journalist critical of Islam, has been a member of several far-right anti-Islam organizations.