A police officer has died after being stabbed multiple times by an Afghan migrant who attacked an anti-Islamification rally in Mannheim, Germany on Friday.
Public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports that local police and prosecutors confirmed that the officer died after being stabbed several times around his neck and head. The officer, identified as “Rouven L” was initially put into an artificially induced coma while doctors tried to save his life, however, such efforts proved unsuccessful.
“He underwent an emergency operation immediately after the crime and was put into an artificial coma, but succumbed to his serious injuries late in the afternoon on Sunday, June 2,” a joint police-prosecutor statement said. “We mourn a police officer who gave his life for our safety.”
The injuries suffered by the officer were sustained during a stabbing rampage carried out by a 25-year-old migrant from Afghanistan who reportedly came to Germany in 2014.
The horrific attack, which was captured on video and shared widely on social media, occurred at a small anti-Islamification rally in Mannheim on Friday organised by Michael Stürzenberger, an activist of the “Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa” campaign group.
The migrant knifeman, identified as “Sulaiman A.”, came upon the rally and stabbed Stürzenberger and four other members of the group. During the chaotic scramble, Officer Rouven was filmed diving on one of the members of the rally after which the Afghan knifeman approached the policeman from behind and stabbed him several times.
After stabbing Rouven, the migrant attacker was finally shot by another officer. Sulaiman was then hospitalised and has not been interviewed by investigators, therefore, no motive for the attack has been made public at the time of this reporting.
01 June 2024, Baden-Württemberg, Mannheim: Candles, flowers and a piece of paper with the inscription “Against Terror” stand at the scene of the crime on the market square. The perpetrator had attacked participants at an anti-Islamic rally on Mannheim’s market square on Friday morning and injured six people, including a police officer. Photo: Uwe Anspach/dpa (Photo by Uwe Anspach/picture alliance via Getty Images)
In a statement, the officer’s colleagues told the Bild newspaper: “Rouven has been there in the last few years wherever there was a fire. He always gave his best and was therefore supported. He was committed and straightforward. We can’t believe we’ve lost him.”
Following the attack — which was reportedly celebrated by Islamists in Germany — Vice President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Kubicki said: “We have been talking about parallel societies and the influx of Islamists for decades. Any substantive proposal to tackle the problem politically is immediately talked down and often labelled as ‘right-wing’ and thus, in the logic of too many journalists, worthy of condemnation.”
The minister-president of the German state of Baden-Württemberg in which the attack occurred, Winfried Kretschmann said on Sunday: “The news has shocked me to the core. All our thoughts are with the family, relatives and colleagues. The pain of such a cruel loss out of nowhere is hard to measure. This terrible act painfully shows us all the often incalculable risks to which police officers are exposed every day.
“I would therefore like to express my deepest sympathy to all police officers in Baden-Württemberg. We are all united with you today in deep mourning. Your service to our state, to our community, to our free and democratic basic order cannot be valued highly enough. As a society, we owe you the utmost respect and appreciation. As minister-president, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and recognition to you.”
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