A Syrian refugee was identified as the prime suspect behind the stabbing of a Spanish tourist at Berlin's Holocaust memorial the day before an election which is expected to see a surge in support for the anti-migrant AfD.
Authorities said they had detained the 19-year-old attacker after the incident occurred at around 6:00 p.m. local time on Friday.
The 30-year-old victim underwent emergency surgery after sustaining injuries to his neck and was placed in an induced coma, but he is no longer in a life-threatening condition.
Initially, police said they did not know the motive or the identity of the male attacker, but added they did not believe there was any imminent danger to the public.
On Saturday, investigators said the suspect came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor in 2023 and was granted asylum that same year. He lived in the city of Leipzig in the eastern state of Saxony.
He was found to be carrying a prayer rug, a Quran, a note with verses from the Quran dated the previous day, and the suspected weapon in his backpack, which prosecutors say suggests a religious motivation.
Prosecutors and police also said that the attack was motivated by the Israel-Gaza war and had been planning “to kill Jews” for several weeks.
However, no reports have mentioned that the Spanish victim was Jewish.
Germany’s law enforcement has been criticized by several human rights organizations, including global humanitarian NGO Amnesty International, for discriminating against people perceived to be Arab or Muslim and systematically restricting peaceful protests that advocate for solidarity with Palestinians.
This has included banning the Arabic language at pro-Palestine protests and imposing a blanket ban on all Palestine solidarity protests.
The Holocaust memorial, one of the German capital’s most sacred sites, commemorates the six million Jews murdered by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis during World War Two - one of the darkest episodes in human history and a continuing focus of German historical atonement. It is visited by many tourists from all over the world at all times of the year.
Campaigning for Sunday’s Sunday’s election election has been marred by a series of reports of high-profile attacks in which the suspects are from migrant backgrounds, shifting the focus away from Germany’s ailing economy and boosting support for the far-right Alternative for Germany. Opinion polls show the AfD is on track to secure second place behind the conservative CDU/CSU bloc.
The 30-year-old victim underwent emergency surgery after sustaining injuries to his neck and was placed in an induced coma, but he is no longer in a life-threatening condition.
Initially, police said they did not know the motive or the identity of the male attacker, but added they did not believe there was any imminent danger to the public.
On Saturday, investigators said the suspect came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor in 2023 and was granted asylum that same year. He lived in the city of Leipzig in the eastern state of Saxony.
He was found to be carrying a prayer rug, a Quran, a note with verses from the Quran dated the previous day, and the suspected weapon in his backpack, which prosecutors say suggests a religious motivation.
Prosecutors and police also said that the attack was motivated by the Israel-Gaza war and had been planning “to kill Jews” for several weeks.
However, no reports have mentioned that the Spanish victim was Jewish.
Germany’s law enforcement has been criticized by several human rights organizations, including global humanitarian NGO Amnesty International, for discriminating against people perceived to be Arab or Muslim and systematically restricting peaceful protests that advocate for solidarity with Palestinians.
This has included banning the Arabic language at pro-Palestine protests and imposing a blanket ban on all Palestine solidarity protests.
The Holocaust memorial, one of the German capital’s most sacred sites, commemorates the six million Jews murdered by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis during World War Two - one of the darkest episodes in human history and a continuing focus of German historical atonement. It is visited by many tourists from all over the world at all times of the year.
Campaigning for Sunday’s Sunday’s election election has been marred by a series of reports of high-profile attacks in which the suspects are from migrant backgrounds, shifting the focus away from Germany’s ailing economy and boosting support for the far-right Alternative for Germany. Opinion polls show the AfD is on track to secure second place behind the conservative CDU/CSU bloc.
A January stabbing in which two people were killed, including a toddler, was blamed on an Afghan immigrant, prompting the CDU/CSU bloc to break a taboo on cooperating with the far right to push a motion cracking down on migration through parliament with the AfD’s support.
In December, a Saudi man who had lived in Germany for years, and whose social media posts indicated he sympathized with the AfD, rammed a car into a Christmas market , killing six and injuring hundreds.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the center-left Social Democrats, who have been accused of not doing enough for German security, said Friday’s perpetrator must be punished with the full severity of the law and immediately deported from prison.
“We will use all available means to deport violent offenders back to Syria,” she said. “Anyone who commits such acts and so disgustingly abuses the protection offered in Germany has forfeited any right to remain in our country.”
There is, so far, no evidence linking the suspect in Friday’s stabbing to any other persons or organizations, prosecutors said.
The suspect was, however, known to police in the eastern state of Saxony, where he lived, for minor offenses related to general criminal activity, Bild newspaper cited the Saxon interior ministry as saying. The ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
In December, a Saudi man who had lived in Germany for years, and whose social media posts indicated he sympathized with the AfD, rammed a car into a Christmas market , killing six and injuring hundreds.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the center-left Social Democrats, who have been accused of not doing enough for German security, said Friday’s perpetrator must be punished with the full severity of the law and immediately deported from prison.
“We will use all available means to deport violent offenders back to Syria,” she said. “Anyone who commits such acts and so disgustingly abuses the protection offered in Germany has forfeited any right to remain in our country.”
There is, so far, no evidence linking the suspect in Friday’s stabbing to any other persons or organizations, prosecutors said.
The suspect was, however, known to police in the eastern state of Saxony, where he lived, for minor offenses related to general criminal activity, Bild newspaper cited the Saxon interior ministry as saying. The ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Source: Reuters
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