The knife attacker who targeted multiple people at an anti-Islamization rally in Mannheim, Germany, on Friday has been identified as Sulaiman A., a 25-year-old Afghan migrant residing in Hesse. The rally, organized by the Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa (BpE), a counter-jihad group, aimed to protest against Islamist extremism.
A video of the attack shows the Afghan national assaulting people at the rally. Several individuals, including a police officer who appeared to be stabbed in the neck, attempted to restrain the attacker. A second police officer shot the suspect, wounding him.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has raised the possibility that the attack could be Islamist-motivated, stating, “If the investigations reveal an Islamist motive, this would be a further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence.”
The incident has underscored the issue of migrant-related crime in Germany. Data from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) showed that foreign migrants, who make up just 14.6 percent of the population, were involved in 58.5 percent of all violent crimes in the country.
