Far-right AfD party candidate stabbed in Mannheim

Politicians in Germany have pleaded for calm on the campaign trail after a candidate for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party was stabbed in the south-west German city of Mannheim, less than a week after a police officer was killed in a knife attack in the city.

The attack, which took place on Tuesday evening but was confirmed by police on Wednesday, left the politician with non-life threatening injuries for which he is being treated in hospital.

While officials have not confirmed the victim’s identity, party members identified him as Heinrich Koch, the party’s local council candidate.

The stabbing reportedly occurred 5 miles (8km) from the market square where Friday’s attack took place, in the district of Rheinau.

According to witnesses who spoke to local media, Koch was attacked by three people after confronting a group who were tearing down party posters put up as part of local and European elections taking place on Sunday. Koch, who had been returning from a meeting of the AfD’s district association, was then reportedly attacked in the stomach and on the ear with a carpet knife.

Mannheim police confirmed on Wednesday that the suspect, a 25year-old man, had not resisted arrest when he was detained in a street close to where the attack took place. Two other suspects are believed to be on the run.

According to police, the suspect arrested was taken to a psychiatric clinic after “showing clear evidence of a psychological illness at the time of his arrest”.

There was no evidence to suggest that the suspect had known the identity of the politician when he attacked him.

According to Rüdiger Ernst, the local head of the party, Koch, a 62-year-old engineer, was expected to be discharged from hospital on Wednesday. He had received stitches to his head, and treatment for a cut to his stomach, Ernst said.

The regional chair of the AfD, Markus Frohnmaier, said that the party was “horrified and distressed” by the incident.

Fellow politicians condemned the attack, the latest in a string of incidents involving violence against German politicians before the European elections.

Mannheim’s lord mayor, Christian Specht of the conservative CDU, said in a statement: “This cowardly attack is hideous and cannot be justified in any way. Whoever attacks election contenders is questioning our free, equal, nationwide, direct and confidential voting system – and with that the basis of our democracy.”

Franziska Brantner, an MP for the Greens in nearby Heidelberg, said: “It’s with horror that I learnt about the brutal attack on an AfD council man in Mannheim. The escalation of violence against politicians of all parties, which we have observed in the past weeks, is in no way justifiable.”

In May the German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, vowed to fight a surge in violence against politicians after Matthias Ecke, a member of the European parliament, had to be taken to hospital after an attack while he was campaigning for re-election.

Shortly before, a 28-year-old campaigner for the Greens, who was putting up posters, was also attacked, police said. Franziska Giffey, a former Berlin mayor, was attacked last month at an event at a Berlin library by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with a bag containing an unidentified hard object.

The previous attack in Mannheim, carried out last Friday, was allegedly committed by a 25-year-old Afghan man.

A 29-year-old policeman who intervened was stabbed and fatally wounded.

Among the five people wounded was Michael Stürzenberger, the leader of the group Pax Europa, who is still reportedly being treated in hospital. The attacker is also still in hospital.