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Mannheim holds silence for murdered policeman

June 7, 2024

The German city has held a minute's silence in memory of a police officer killed in a knife attack last week. A rally against Islamism was later held by the far-right AfD and was met by thousands of counterdemonstrators.

https://p.dw.com/p/4gmDP
German President Frank Walter Steinmeier observes a minute of silence
The German president laid a bouquet of flowers at the crime scene Image: Heiko Becker/REUTERS

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended a minute-long silence in memory of murdered police officer Rouven Laur in the southwestern city of Mannheim on Friday.

The 29-year-old policeman died in hospital on Sunday after he was stabbed several times by a 25-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker, who also injured five participants at a rally organized by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa.

How Mannheim paid tribute

The silence was held at 11:34 a.m. local time — exactly a week after the stabbing in the city's market square.

Baden-Württemberg state Premier Winfried Kretschmann and state Interior Minister Thomas Strobl joined Steinmeier for the moment of silence.

The German president laid a bouquet of flowers at the scene of the crime. 

A police spokeswoman said between 1,500 and 2,000 people had gathered in honor of the murdered policeman.

Mannheim knife attack: Police suspect Islamist motive

Around 50 officers from the Mannheim police headquarters, mainly patrol officers, lined up in front of the sea of ​​flowers on the market square and remembered their colleague with their hands clasped.

AfD protesters met with counter-protest

Later on Friday, several hundred people attended a demonstration against Islamism in Mannheim that was organized by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, German press agency DPA reported.

The protest was met with several thousand counterdemonstrators who called for Nazis to get out of Germany.

Police said there were around 700 people at the AfD event  and around 3,300 counterdemonstrators.

Separately, a local candidate for the AfD was injured in a separate knife attack this week, also in Mannheim, by a man who police said showed clear signs of mental illness.

kb,rc/sms (dpa, AFP)

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