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CRIME

Man arrested in connection with knife attacks on three women in Nuremberg

A man has been arrested in connection with the horror knife attacks of three women in Nuremberg, Bavaria.

Published: 17 December 2018 11:39 CET
Man arrested in connection with knife attacks on three women in Nuremberg
Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian interior minister speaking at the press conference on Sunday. Photo: DPA

Police confirmed on Sunday that they had taken a 38-year-old German man into custody on Saturday afternoon.

The suspect had been discovered by a police patrol and was in possession of a knife. Investigators found DNA traces on the weapon and the victims' clothing, reported the Berliner Morgenpost.

The police believe the alleged perpetrator acted alone. German media have been reporting that the suspect has remained silent over the allegations.

The suspect had no permanent residence but was last registered in Berlin. According to Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, he was born in Thuringia.

The man has already been convicted of 18 other crimes. A spokesperson for the police said they had ruled out a terrorist motive for the crime. In addition, the investigation has established that the alleged perpetrator and the victims did not know each other. The motive remains unclear.

As The Local reported, on Thursday three women were stabbed in separate attacks in the St. Johannis district of the city, generating a man hunt involving around 300 police officers.

The attacks happened within a few hours of each other. Around 7:20 p.m. a 56-year-old woman was stabbed in the upper body area and was taken to hospital.

Later, around 10:45 p.m, a 26-year-old woman, who was making her way home at the time, was also attacked with a knife just a few streets away.

Shortly afterwards, a 34-year-old woman was then also stabbed. The latter two women suffered life-threatening injuries, police said. All three underwent emergency surgery.

Police posted on Twitter when they had made the arrest on Saturday and held a press conference on Sunday.

At the press conference, Interior Minister Herrmann, of the Christian Socialists (CSU), praised the police for their quick action and for their increased patrols. “It was important to strengthen the visible police presence in the city,” Herrmann said in Nuremberg.

“One could feel how many people were afraid that the perpetrator was still walking around freely,” he added. “The identification of the alleged perpetrator was very important in order to take away the fear of further attacks from the people of the city.”

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POLITICS

Scholz says attacks on deputies ‘threaten’ democracy

Leading politicians on Saturday condemned an attack on a European deputy with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party, after investigators said a political motive was suspected.

Published: 5 May 2024 08:34 CEST
Scholz says attacks on deputies 'threaten' democracy

Scholz denounced the attack as a “threat” to democracy and the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also sounded the alarm.

Police said four unknown attackers beat up Matthias Ecke, an MEP for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), as he put up EU election posters in the eastern city of Dresden on Friday night.

Ecke, 41, was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said. Police confirmed he needed hospital treatment.

“Democracy is threatened by this kind of act,” Scholz told a congress of European socialist parties in Berlin, saying such attacks result from “discourse, the atmosphere created from pitting people against each other”.

“We must never accept such acts of violence… we must oppose it together.”

Borrell, posting on X, formerly Twitter, also condemned the attack.

“We’re witnessing unacceptable episodes of harassment against political representatives and growing far-right extremism that reminds us of dark times of the past,” he wrote.

“It cannot be tolerated nor underestimated. We must all defend democracy.”

The investigation is being led by the state protection services, highlighting the political link suspected by police.

“If an attack with a political motive… is confirmed just a few weeks from the European elections, this serious act of violence would also be a serious act against democracy,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.

This would be “a new dimension of anti-democratic violence”, she added.

Series of attacks

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s EU election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police added that a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had earlier been “punched” and “kicked” in the same Dresden street. The same attackers were suspected.

Faeser said “extremists and populists are stirring up a climate of increasing violence”.

The SPD highlighted the role of the far-right “AfD party and other right-wing extremists” in increased tensions.

“Their supporters are now completely uninhibited and clearly view us democrats as game,” said Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, regional SPD leaders.

Armin Schuster, interior minister in Saxony, where an important regional vote is due to be held in September, said 112 acts of political violence linked to the elections have been recorded there since the beginning of the year.

Of that number, 30 were directed against people holding political office of one kind or another.

“What is really worrying is the intensity with which these attacks are currently increasing,” he said on Saturday.

On Thursday two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and one was hit in the face, police said.

Last Saturday, dozens of demonstrators surrounded parliament deputy speaker Katrin Goering-Eckardt, also a Greens lawmaker, in her car in eastern Germany. Police reinforcements had to clear a route for her to get away.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

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