Anti-Islam activist Michael Stürzenberger has been injured Friday in a knife attack in the German city of Mannheim, media reports say.
Police said the assailant wounded multiple people and responding officers fired at the individual, according to The Associated Press.
The attack was captured on camera by the Buergerbewegung Pax Europa group. One of those injured was Michael Stürzenberger, described by Euronews as a German far-right activist and anti-Islam critic who is a member of the organization.
Buergerbewegung Pax Europa, which has vocally opposed Islam and Muslims in Germany, including pushing for a ban on mosques, was holding a rally at the time of the stabbing incident, Euronews adds.
A banner was on display at the scene with the message “stop political Islam!”
Police said in a statement that there was no longer any danger to the public. There was no official word on the motive. One of those injured in the stabbing was a police officer.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that it’s up to the investigation to determine a motive. She said in a statement that “if the investigation shows an Islamist motive, that would be another confirmation of the great danger from Islamist acts of violence that we have warned of,” according to The Associated Press.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X that “the pictures from Mannheim are terrible” and that “violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy.”
The stabbings happened on the Marktplatz, a square in Mannheim’s downtown area. The city of about 300,000 people is located south of Frankfurt.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.