Germany woke up in shock on Saturday, August 24, after the knife attack that left three dead and five seriously injured the night before in Solingen, in the west of the country, and while the manhunt continues to arrest the perpetrator. Here is what we know at this time.
• An attack that occurred during local festivities
The attack took place on Friday at around 9:40 p.m. on Fronhof Square, a busy area in downtown Solingen where stages and various attractions had been set up for the 650th anniversary celebrations.e anniversary of this city. The latter, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, has more than 150,000 inhabitants; it is located not far from Düsseldorf and north of Cologne.
According to the local daily, Solinger Tageblattshortly after 10 p.m. a member of the organization went on stage to interrupt the demonstration, which had begun in the evening with a light show accompanied by concerts in a square in the city center.
The organizer said emergency services were trying to save the lives of several people. Thousands of visitors followed his request to leave the scene peacefully, the newspaper reported. “The atmosphere is ghostly”described the journalist covering the event. “People left the square in shock, but calmly”according to Philipp Müller, one of the organizers mentioned.
“The attacker stabbed people at random with a knife”explained Alexander Kresta, spokesman for the Wuppertal police, to the tabloid in the evening. Image. Police later said the perpetrator fled after killing three people and seriously injuring four others. The toll was revised upwards on Saturday morning to five seriously injured.
A witness told the Solinger Tageblatt having found himself a few meters from the attack, not far from the concert stage, “understanding from the singer's facial expression that something was wrong”. “And then, a meter away from me, a person fell”says Lars Breitzke. He said he initially thought it was a drunk person. But when he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood.
• The suspect is still wanted
Early on Saturday morning, police in the neighbouring city of Düsseldorf announced in a statement that “victims and witnesses [étaient] currently being questioned »specifying that he is always “in search of the author”Many streets in the city centre were still closed off, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) noted.
On the social network X, investigators called on the public to provide them with any information, including photos and videos, that could lead to the arrest of the suspect, who is on the run. “important operation” An attempt is underway to find him, a Düsseldorf police spokeswoman told AFP.
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The many police officers present during the night from Friday to Saturday were assisted by special forces agents, noted a photographer from the agency, according to whom a helicopter was also participating in the operations. The scientific police were also on site.
• Persistent uncertainty about the nature of the attack
The police have not yet described the attack. “Out of nowhere, a man armed with a knife stabbed people at random and killed them”described the region's interior minister, Herbert Reul, during a visit to the site overnight. “Why? Nobody knows. We can't say anything at the moment about the motive, about the person.”he added, calling for caution regarding the nature of the attack.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: “deeply” upset by “The brutal attack at the Solingen city festival”, in a message published Saturday morning on X (the translation of the word stop being subject to interpretation, which can also be translated as “attack”). She clarified that “The security services are doing everything in their power to arrest the perpetrator of the attack and determine the context”.
“The culprit must be arrested quickly and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said “upset”Saturday morning, on the social network X.
In August, the Interior Minister announced that she wanted to ban knives longer than six centimetres from public spaces, with some members of the government coalition even calling for a total ban, in the face of a resurgence in knife attacks. German authorities are particularly on alert in the face of a dual terrorist threat: jihadism and right-wing extremism.
So far, the deadliest jihadist attack on German soil dates back to December 2016: a truck attack, claimed by the Islamic State organization, left twelve dead at a Christmas market in the center of Berlin. At the end of May this year, a knife attack in Mannheim (west of the country) may have had an Islamist motivation. It cost the life of a police officer and injured five others.
Another threat to the country is posed by the extreme right, with several deadly attacks taking place in recent years against community or religious sites.
• The rest of the festivities cancelled
“Tonight we are all in shock, horror and great sadness in Solingen. We all wanted to celebrate our city's anniversary together and now we have dead and injured people to mourn.”reacted the mayor of Solingen, Tim-Oliver Kurzbach, on the website of this municipality in the Ruhr basin on Friday evening.
“It breaks my heart that an attack has taken place in our city. It brings tears to my eyes as I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives.”added the mayor. “The horrible act in Solingen upsets me, it upsets our country”reacted German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The festivities, which were scheduled to last until Sunday, have been cancelled due to the attack, organisers announced in the press. Dubbed the “Diversity Festival”, the event was to feature three days of music, theatre and dance. Up to 75,000 visitors were expected.
Source: Lemonde
