On 31 May 2024 at 11:34am, in the market square in
Mannheim,
Baden-Württemberg,
Germany, a man ambushed and wounded several people, including
controversial activist
Michael Stürzenberger at a rally hosted by the
far-right group
Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (BPE) with Stürzenberger as the main speaker. Six people were injured, including Stürzenberger; a police officer who was stabbed in the neck would succumb to his injuries two days later. The attack was stopped when the suspect was injuriously shot by another police officer.[2][3] Investigators suspect that the suspect's motive was
Islamist in nature.[4]
Stabbing
The BPE rally was held in Mannheim's market square[5] where Michael Stürzenberger was supposed to give a speech. At previous rallies, Stürzenberger had called for
concentration camps against Muslims based on the
Xinjiang internment camps.[3]
The stabbing started at around 11:34am, while Stürzenberger prepared for the event. A third party happened to be livestreaming on
YouTube at the time.[6] Footage from the event showed the suspect watching the scene for some time, before suddenly ambushing Stürzenberger when he was on his own. Two nearby BPE supporters were also stabbed when they attempted to intervene.
The attacker went after Stürzenberger again, wrestling him to the ground and stabbing him several times, before being quickly grappled and dragged away by bystanders, including a 34-year-old
Iraqi man. Another person, dressed in blue, mistakenly punched the Iraqi, resulting in him loosening his grip and the attacker breaking loose, stabbing two of those trying to subdue him, a third BPE member and the Iraqi.[7] During the process, many people kept yelling "(put) the knife away!"[8]
A police officer, identified as 29-year-old Rouven Laur,[9][10][11] threw the man in blue to the ground, where he was flat on his back and did not resist. Laur then turned away from the attacker and pinned down the man in blue by kneeling on him, allowing the attacker to run around Laur and stab him in the neck.[12] Another police officer then non-fatally shot the attacker down.[13][14]
For about eight minutes, police officers and BPE members provided first aid to victims. Also, the two bystanders were pinned down for some time by officers.
Victims
Michael Stürzenberger below the flag of Israel, before or after an earlier BPE rally held in
DresdenThe Marktplatz square well in
Mannheim, the site of the attack
According to Der Spiegel, the authorities assumed a total of seven people were injured, including the attacker and the police officer.[3] The nationalities and ages of all five injured civilians were shared by police in a press report; three were German citizens, one was a German Kazakh, and one was an Iraqi.[15]
Laur was placed in an
induced coma[16][17] and underwent emergency surgery,[18] but succumbed to his injuries two days after the stabbing.[19][20] Stürzenberger was stabbed in the face, chest, and thigh[13] and underwent emergency surgery for non-life-threatening injuries.[21] On 1 June 2024, Stürzenberger posted on his
Telegram page that the chest stab wound narrowly missed his lungs while the thigh stab wound caused significant blood loss due to striking veins.[17]
Suspect
The main suspect in the stabbing was identified as a 25-year-old
Afghan refugee named Sulaiman Ataee.[22] He was a former resident of
Herat, and moved to Germany in 2013 as an
unaccompanied minor. His application for
asylum was denied in 2014, but he could not be deported due to being underage.[8] He lived in
Heppenheim at the time of the attack, around 30 km from Mannheim.[23][24] He reportedly had a valid
residence permit, was married since 2019, and had two children.[25] German authorities had not flagged him as an extremist prior to the attack. According to Der Spiegel, investigators believe
Islamist motives to be likely.[4] The
Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation announced that he was given an arrest warrant for attempted murder, and his apartment was searched.[17]
Two days after the attack, a public statement released by the Mannheim Police Department and State Criminal Police Office of Baden-Württemberg mourned the death of the police officer who gave his life trying to control the situation and stop the violence.[26]
A public vigil was set up in the market square where the stabbing took place. At the same time,
Young Alternative members set up an
anti-immigration protest at the market square, which was met by counter-protesters that included members of
Antifa organizations.[27]
Federal interior Minister
Nancy Faeser said that it was up to investigators to determine a motive, adding that "if the investigation shows an Islamist motive, that would be another confirmation of the great danger from Islamist acts of violence that we have warned of."[28] German chancellor
Olaf Scholz said on
X that the footage was "terrible", that such acts of violence were "absolutely unacceptable", and that "[t]he perpetrator must be severely punished".[29] He later stated that action was needed against extremist political violence from those who tried to restrict the democratic space for discussion, regardless of their political or religious orientation.[27]
North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister
Herbert Reul stated that stronger measures for controlling the possession and violent use of knives with greater focus on security policy, stronger punishments, and education about their dangers were required.[30]
Green Party politician
Konstantin von Notz and
FDP vice-chairman
Konstantin Kuhle both condemned anyone who glorified the act of violence, with the latter stating that anyone who publicly celebrated the stabbing should face immediate and severe criminal proceedings, and that Muslim associations needed to make clear statements denouncing the use and glorification of violence to prevent future attacks.[27]
In the
Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin session of 6 June, when a speaker mentioned (with double meaning in German) "... the terrible death in/of Mannheim ...",
Alliance 90/The Greens member
Tuba Bozkurt joked "Mannheim is dead?", causing laughter among other members, according to the protocol.[35] Party leader
Omid Nouripour and Bozkurt herself apologized.[36]
On 7 June, one week after the attack, the Baden-Württemberg state chapter of the
Alternative for Germany (AfD) wanted to organize a memorial rally on the site of the attack, the Marktplatz.[37] Despite several other events having been held there since, this was denied by the city, claiming that from 4 until 16 June, only individual mourning is allowed there, as shown on a sign.[38] After an appeal, a higher court upheld the ban.[39] The AfD had to move to a different square, Paradeplatz.[40]
^Hanfeld, Michael (4 June 2024).
"Wie der Mord von Mannheim im Netz gefeiert wird" [How the Mannheim murder is being celebrated online]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.