Latest news with #PaxEuropa
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
Mannheim knife attacker admits guilt, expresses remorse
A 26-year-old man on trial for the murder of a police officer and injury to five others on the market square of the German city of Mannheim in May last year on Tuesday admitted guilt and expressed remorse. The Afghan man, identified under privacy law as Sulaiman A, said the war in the Gaza Strip had changed his life and was the motive for his attack on a rally called by the anti-Islam activist group Pax Europa (BPE). He is charged with murder and attempted murder. Five rally participants and police officer Rouven Laur, 29, were injured in the May 31 attack. Laur died in hospital two days later. Another officer disabled the attacker with a gunshot. The accused said he had spoken about killing unbelievers in Telegram chats with a cleric and collected information on the Islamic State terrorist group. "I will say how I came to commit this terrible crime," Sulaiman A told the court, describing how he aimed to kill BPE leader Michael Stürzenberger. Stürzenberger was one of the people injured. "My life changed with the start of this Gaza war," he said, revealing that he had viewed Telegram channels showing dead men, women and children. "I cried every day," he said. The trial began in February and is scheduled to run until the end of October.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Yahoo
Germany's Heidelberg cancels Carnival event after tragedy in Mannheim
The German city of Heidelberg has cancelled its Carnival procession planned for Tuesday after a car drove into a crowd, killing two people, in the nearby city of Mannheim. The Heidelberg Carnival committee and the city council agreed on this in an emergency meeting, the city announced. The step was also coordinated with cities and towns in the surrounding area that had planned parades for Tuesday. "The horrific images from Mannheim are devastating, and our thoughts are with the victims and their families," Heidelberg Lord Mayor Eckart Würzner said. "It is the second time in a year that our neighbouring city has suffered such a terrible act of violence - in such a situation, it was inconceivable for us to celebrate a cheerful Carnival procession here in Heidelberg," he added. According to information obtained by dpa, the alleged driver, a German national, was detained and is now in hospital with injuries. The police do not assume there were other perpetrators involved. It initially remained unclear whether the incident was caused by an accident or an attack. Last year, a suspected Islamist stabbed five participants at a rally organized by the anti-Islam Pax Europa movement in Mannheim's city centre. A police officer later succumbed to his injuries.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Yahoo
Two dead, several injured as car hits crowd in Germany's Mannheim
Two people have died and several were injured after a car drove into a crowd in the south-western German city of Mannheim, security sources said on Monday. According to information obtained by dpa, the alleged driver, a German national, was detained and is now in hospital with injuries. The police do not assume there were other perpetrators involved. A dpa reporter at the scene witnessed at least one person being covered by a sheet amongst the debris. The police said the incident occurred at the Paradeplatz square in the city centre and that an investigation was in full swing. It initially remained unclear whether the incident was caused by an accident or an attack. The police called on people to avoid the city centre. According to witnesses, a vehicle sped down Planken street, a major shopping street leading past the square, hitting several pedestrians near Paradeplatz. A Carnival market including dozens of food stalls and rides had been set up along Planken street as Germany marks the Carnival season. Psychological counselling is being provided on site for those who need it. Mannheim University Hospital said it has implemented a disaster and emergency plan to prepare to care for injured people. Two adults and one child are currently reportedly being treated with high medical priority. The incident comes as Germany reels from a string of deadly attacks in recent months, including at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in December, where six people were killed when a man drove a vehicle into the crowd. Last month, a man drove a car into a group of demonstrators in Munich, killing a woman and a child. Mannheim itself was the scene of an attack only last year, when a suspected Islamist stabbed five participants at a rally organized by the Islam-critical Pax Europa movement in the city centre. A police officer later succumbed to his injuries. Mannheim, a city of some 320,000, is located about 80 kilometres south of Frankfurt.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trial in deadly May knife attack in Germany's Mannheim begins
The trial against a 26-year-old Afghan citizen for a fatal knife attack on the market square of the German city of Mannheim that killed a policeman in May began on Thursday under strict security precautions. The defendant, identified only as Sulaiman A under German privacy rules, is facing charges of murder and attempted murder as well as lessor alleged crimes. On Thursday morning, A was led in handcuffs into the tightly secured courtroom at the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart. Relatives of the policeman killed in the attack, including his mother, were in the courtroom at the start of proceedings, in addition to a large contingent of reporters. According to prosecutors, A had expressed sympathies for the Islamic State terrorist group and had decided to commit an attack on alleged "infidels" at a rally in Mannheim called by the anti-Islam activist group Pax Europa (BPE). Five rally participants were injured in the attack, and 29-year-old policeman Rouven Laur died. The attacker was shot by another police officer but survived his injuries. The trial has been scheduled to take place over more than 50 days of proceedings which could stretch until the end of October, according to the court. The Mannheim attack prompted intense political debate in Germany over migration and security policy. It has continued to be cited during the current German election campaign as one of several attacks over the past year involving alleged attackers who had arrived in Germany as migrants.
Arab News
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Afghan faces trial over deadly knife attack on German policeman
BERLIN: An Afghan man with suspected militant motives goes on trial in Germany on Thursday over a knife attack that killed a policeman and wounded five others at an anti-Islam rally last hearings will start less than two weeks before German elections and at a time of heated debate about immigration and public security following a spate of deadly attacks blamed on asylum defendant, only partially named as Sulaiman A., allegedly used a large hunting knife in a stabbing rampage targeting a rally by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, in the western city of knifeman initially attacked a speaker and other demonstrators, then stabbed a police officer who rushed in to help, and who died later the same day of his A., who was aged 25 at the time of the May 31 attack, was shot and wounded at the site before he was also the suspect is not being tried as a terrorist, prosecutors have charged that he sympathized with the Islamic State (IS) defendant faces charges of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm in a trial held in a high-security prison in to German media reports, the Afghan suspect arrived in Germany overland in 2013 aged just 14, together with his brother but without their were denied asylum but, as unaccompanied minors, granted stays of deportation and permanent residency, and initially placed in care facilities, reports have charge that Sulaiman A. had decided to mount the attack by early May at the Germans were especially shocked as a video circulating online showed the 29-year-old police officer being repeatedly stabbed in the attacks since have further inflamed debate on the influx of several million refugees and migrants over the past August, three people died and five were wounded in a knife rampage claimed by IS in the western city of Solingen, in which the Syrian suspect had been slated for deportation but evaded law December, a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg killed six people and wounded hundreds.A Saudi man, said by officials to hold far-right beliefs and to be mentally disturbed, was arrested next to the heavily damaged most recent attack, targeting a nursery school group in the southern city of Aschaffenburg, claimed two lives, including that of a two-year-old child.A 28-year-old Afghan man, whom officials describe as having a history of mental health issues, was arrested close to the attacks have driven rising support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is polling around 20 percent ahead of February 23 national the wake of the latest attack, the center-right CDU, currently leading in polls on around 30 percent, demanded a crackdown against irregular CDU leader Friedrich Merz sparked outrage by bringing a resolution on the issue to parliament which passed with AfD votes, breaching a long-standing taboo against cooperating with the far rights groups and other critics charged that the proposed steps would not have prevented the attacks and would penalize innocent refugees and breach EU law.
