Man arrested for Berlin stabbing is Syrian refugee who wanted ‘to kill Jews'
A Syrian man who was arrested after stabbing a tourist at Berlin's Holocaust memorial had been harbouring a 'plan to kill Jews', German prosecutors said on Saturday.
The attacker, 19, was arrested on Friday evening with blood stains on his hands. He was carrying a copy of the Koran and a prayer mat.
Initial investigations suggested the attacker had 'connections with the Middle East conflict', prosecutors said.
The attacker approached a 30-year-old Spanish tourist from behind at around 6pm on Friday, stabbing him in the neck with a knife.
The assault took place at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a sombre grid of concrete steles located near the US embassy in Berlin.
The victim suffered life-threatening injuries and was placed in an induced coma. He is no longer in a critical condition.
Police believe the Syrian suspect came to Germany in 2023 as an unaccompanied minor before being granted asylum in the eastern city of Leipzig.
There was no evidence of links to other people or groups and the suspect had not previously come to the attention of Berlin police.
The attack occurred two days before Germany's general election, which has centred heavily on immigration after a series of deadly stabbings and car-ramming attacks blamed on migrants.
Earlier this month, an Afghan man drove his car into a crowd in Munich, killing a mother and her two-year-old daughter.
It later emerged that he had his asylum application rejected six years ago but had still not been deported.
Last month, a toddler and adult were killed in a knife attack in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Immigrants were arrested over both attacks.
The rise of AfD, the far-Right party, which is expected to come second in Sunday's vote, has been attributed in part to the recent spate of attacks and the broader issue of immigration in the country.
Germany has also grown increasingly alarmed about rising anti-Jewish sentiment and violence since the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
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