(Solingen) The hunt continues Saturday in Germany to arrest the author of a knife attack which left three dead and four seriously injured the previous evening during a community festival in Solingen, in the west of the country.
German police have called on the public on the social network X to provide any information, including photos and videos, that could lead to the arrest of the suspect who fled.
A “major operation” is underway to try to find him, a spokeswoman for the Düsseldorf police told AFP.
“The attacker stabbed people at random with a knife,” he told the tabloid. Image Alexander Kresta, spokesperson for the Wuppertal police.
After the attack during the 650th festivitiese anniversary of the city in North Rhine-Westphalia, the premises were “largely cordoned off”, according to the Düsseldorf police.
The many police officers present during the night from Friday to Saturday were assisted by special forces agents, noted an AFP photographer according to whom a helicopter was also participating in the operations.
PHOTO THILO SCHMUELGEN, REUTERS
Investigators were canvassing the area after the attack.
“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,” wrote its mayor, Tim-Oliver Kurzbach, on the website of this Ruhr area municipality.
Solingen, a municipality with over 150,000 inhabitants, is located not far from Düsseldorf and north of Cologne.
“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,” the mayor added.
According to the local daily Solinger Tageblattshortly after 10 p.m. (4 p.m. Eastern Time), 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 on a downtown square.
The organizer said rescuers were trying to save the lives of several people. The thousands of visitors followed his request to leave the premises peacefully, the newspaper reported. “The atmosphere is ghostly,” described the journalist covering the event.
Pools of blood
“People left the square in shock, but calmly,” Philipp Müller, one of the organizers, told the newspaper.
A witness also claims to Solinger Tageblatt having been a few metres from the attack, not far from the concert stage, “understanding from the expression on the singer’s face that something was wrong”.
PHOTO GIANNI GATTUS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Police and paramedics arrive at the scene of the attack
“And then, a meter away from me, a person fell,” said the man, Lars Breitzke, who 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.
German authorities have remained on high alert in recent years in the face of a dual terrorist threat: jihadism and right-wing extremism.
The deadliest jihadist attack on German soil dates back to December 2016: a truck attack claimed by the Islamic State group left 12 dead at a Christmas market in the centre of Berlin.
At the end of May, a knife attack in Mannheim (west) targeting an anti-Islam rally and committed by a 25-year-old Afghan who arrived in Germany in 2014 is suspected to have had an Islamist motivation. It cost the life of a police officer and left five others injured.
Another threat looms over the country, embodied by the extreme right, after several deadly attacks in recent years targeting community or religious places.
The festivities in Solingen, which were to last until Sunday, have been cancelled due to the attack, organisers told reporters. Dubbed the “Diversity Festival”, the event was to feature three days of music, theatre and dance. Up to 75,000 visitors were expected.