Antifa against AfD – “Nazis out”: riots after knife attack

Both groups were consistently kept apart by the police. While the AfD youth organization Junge Alternative, classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, held its rally just a few meters from the crime scene, the counter-protesters formed a peaceful human chain along the tram tracks in the form of a wake. In between stood the officers with helmets and batons.

‘Remigration could have prevented the crime’
Up to 1,000 people took part in the vigil, a police spokesman said. According to the newspaper “Bild”, about 150 people attended the AfD youth event, which had the motto: “Remigration would have prevented this act!”

“Nazis out”
Videos on the internet show protesters forming a long human chain in the downtown area – and police clashing with a group of Antifa activists. They waved red flags and set Bengalos on fire. The slogan ‘Nazis out’ was chanted on the market square.

Antifa wanted to storm the market
Shortly after the start of the Junge Alternative meeting, which also included political speeches, about thirty Antifa sympathizers tried to storm the market square. They were surrounded in a side street. Pepper spray was also used. After the two events in the market square broke up, the Antifa protesters were led away one by one and their personal details were taken.

Great sadness for dead police officer
It was not yet officially known that the 29-year-old police officer who was stabbed in the knife attack on Friday had died in hospital on Sunday afternoon. The attacker, who was from Afghanistan, stabbed the officer several times in the head area. As German authorities also announced, the police officer “was rushed into surgery and put into an induced coma immediately after the crime,” but “succumbed to his serious injuries in the late afternoon hours of June 2.” “We mourn the loss of a police officer who gave his life for our safety,” it also said.

The perpetrator’s motive remains unclear
The motive of the 25-year-old perpetrator is still unclear. Until now, the man, who was born in Afghanistan but came to Germany as a teenager in 2014, could not be interviewed; he was also injured in the minutes after the attack. So far he has not appeared before the police. He is married, has two children and lives in Heppenheim, Hesse.

The attack injured six men, including the police officer, in the city center market square on Friday morning during an event of the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa (BPE). BPE board member Michael Stürzenberger is among the injured.

“The news shocks me”
“The news shocks me to my core,” Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann said this evening. Our thoughts are with the family, relatives and colleagues. “This terrible act makes painfully clear to all of us the often incalculable risk to which police officers are exposed on a daily basis.” The service of police officers to the state, the community and the free democratic basic order cannot be valued highly enough. “As a society, we owe you the utmost respect and appreciation.”

Images from the crime scene:

“These are moments when the world seems to stand still,” said Thomas Strobl, Minister of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg. “The entire Baden-Württemberg police force will forever honor his memory.” “He gave his life because he stood up to protect other people.”

Police union angry
The German Police Association reacted with concern but also anger. “The violence we face every day is ruthlessly brutal, inhumane and often deadly,” said Head of State Ralf Kusterer. The campaigns against hate and incitement often do not even begin to address the issues that police officers face on a daily basis. “Discussions about democracy and freedom of expression do not reach perpetrators who are incapable of guilt or crime, nor do they reach religious fanatics whose world of ideas seems completely alien and absurd to us.”