The small town of Solingen in western Germany is in shock after an unknown report broke on Friday evening. stabbed three people to death and injured eight othersincluding five seriously, during a party celebrating the 650th anniversary of the town. The police launched a major operation to capture the killer, of whom no physical description has yet been provided. The officers have not yet found the weapon used in the crime.
The incident occurred around 9:45 p.m. as the city of about 160,000 people celebrated what is known as the Diversity Festival, a three-day festival to commemorate the anniversary of its founding. The attack, which police have not yet called “terrorist,” occurred just outside one of the three stages, as a live band was performing.
“We currently have no information about his whereabouts,” a police spokesman told ARD public television. The attacker managed to escape in the confusion and panic that spread after the attack. Witnesses nearby were shocked. “This is a big problem.” “We still don't have much information about the attacker,” the spokesman said. Witnesses “are receiving our professional support and, of course, we are questioning them to get more precise information,” he added. Police assume that there was a single attacker who stabbed his victims in the neck. “We have no evidence that there are more people,” the same source said.
Police are asking for the public's cooperation to arrest the attacker. It has been launched a web page so that anyone with videos or other evidence could upload them for analysis. Police spent the night interviewing both the injured victims and the many witnesses to the event. The city had gathered thousands of people for a fun and recreational party that was supposed to last all weekend and was canceled.
Shortly after the attack, one of the event organizers, Philipp Müller, came to the main stage to report what had happened and asked the participants to leave the square calmly. Müller assured that emergency services were working to save the lives of several people who had been seriously injured by a knife-wielding man who was still on the run, as can be seen in a video posted on social media and on television. As he announced this, there were cries of astonishment among the audience.
Knowing what's happening outside means understanding what's going to happen inside, not missing anything.
The local newspaper Solinger Tagblatt Last night, an eyewitness, Lars Breitzke, was quoted as saying that he was standing in front of the main stage when the crime happened. He said he realised that something was happening when he saw the expression on the face of singer Suzan Köcher, who was performing at the time. “Then a person fell to the ground a metre away from me,” said the witness, who at first thought it was a drunk. When he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood, the newspaper reported.
The search extends beyond the city limits; numerous roadblocks have been set up around Solingen and police helicopters have been combing the area overnight. The city centre remains blocked by checkpoints and the population is asked not to approach so as not to interrupt the work of the police. The attack took place at Fronhof, the market square in the centre of Solingen.
North Rhine-Westphalia's president, Hendrik Wüst, called the attack “a most brutal and senseless act of violence” on his X account. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also expressed her shock. “We are deeply shocked by the brutal attack on the Solingen city festival. We mourn the people whose lives were terribly taken. “My thoughts are with the families of the deceased and the seriously injured.”
The brutal Anschlag auf the Stadtfest in Solingen erschüttert uns zutiefst. Wir trauern um die Menschen, die auf furchtbare Weise aus dem Leben geissen wurden. Meine Gedanken sind bei den Familien der Getöteten et bei den Schwerverletzten. (1/2)
-Nancy Faeser (@NancyFaeser) August 24, 2024
Shortly before midnight, Mayor Tim Kurzbach assured on social networks: “Tonight we are all shocked, horrified and very sad in Solingen. We wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured. It breaks my heart that there was an attack in our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who continue to fight for their lives.”
In Germany, concern has recently increased over knife attacks, after several cases have resulted in deaths and injuries. Earlier this month, the government announced plans to tighten rules on the possession of knives in public. The proposal that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has put on the table is to reduce the maximum length allowed from 12 to six centimeters.
The trigger for this legal change was the death of 29-year-old police officer in Mannheim last June. The officer was stabbed by an Afghan during an attack on a far-right rally in a city square in broad daylight. The detainee, a 25-year-old man born in Afghanistan and living in Germany since 2014, married with two children, attacked the organizers of the event, Islamophobic activists who were preparing to hold a rally. The officer intervened and he was stabbed several times in the back of the head.
In November 2021, there was another Knife attack on high-speed train in Bavariain southern Germany, which left three people seriously injured. A 27-year-old Syrian man was arrested as the suspected perpetrator. Another attack in June of the same year left Three dead and several injured in Würzburg, Bavaria, after a man attacked passersby with a knife. Police arrested a 24-year-old Somali man with a history of mental illness after shooting him in the leg to kill him.
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