German far-right politician injured in another knife attack in Mannheim

A candidate for the municipal elections of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was injured on Tuesday night when he was attacked with a knife in the city of Mannheim in the southern German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The perpetrator of the attack was arrested this Wednesday, according to media reports in the country.

According to AfD spokesman Emil Sanze, as reported by EFE agency to Bild, the attack took place at 10:45 p.m. near the Market Square, when AfD candidate Heinrich Koch surprised three people who tore down posters. When the politician reprimanded them for their behavior, he was attacked with a knife and injured. The other two men fled.

What the spokesperson called a “left-wing extremist attack” has not yet been officially confirmed.

No further details have been released at this time. The incident comes just days after a police officer died following a knife attack in the same city last Friday.

“We are shocked and disappointed,” said AfD regional chairman Markus Frommeyer.

The police, for their part, have so far only confirmed that there was some police action.

wave of violence

This is not the first attack on politicians or volunteers during this electoral campaign. MEP and main Social Democratic candidate from Saxony in the European elections, Matthias Eck, was seriously injured in Dresden (east) in early April when he was attacked while posting election posters.

Earlier, the alleged perpetrators of the attack had attacked a Greens volunteer who was also putting up posters.

A few days later, economy chief and former mayor of Berlin, Social Democrat Franziska Giffey, was lightly injured when she was attacked on the head with a bag filled with a hard material.

Martin Schmidt, an AfD deputy in the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, was also slightly injured when he was attacked with a glass ashtray in the German city of Schwerin.

On the other hand, in Mannheim, where the attack against the AfD politician took place this Tuesday, on Friday a man attacked an Islamophobic activist and four other people with a knife near an information point of an ultra organization. One of the police officers who responded to the scene was stabbed and died a few days later in hospital.

“Whether it is Islamism or left-wing extremism, people who do not accept freedom of opinion or do not have reasonable arguments now take out the knife. This is worrying and shows how deep the divisions in our society have become. I wish Heinrich Koch a speedy recovery,” said Anton Baron, head of the AfD parliamentary group in the regional chamber.

The rest of the political parties, for their part, hold the far right and the AfD co-responsible for the violence against politicians and the current climate of social division.