Aschaffenburg Mayor Jürgen Herzing said he was “shaken up” after a deadly stabbing in his city and urged calm as the attack ramps up Germany’s debate on migration ahead of elections on February 23.
The attack on Wednesday in the southern German state of Bavaria left two people dead, including a 2-year-old boy, with others seriously injured.
Herzing sees ‘parallels’ with earlier attacks
Herzing said at a wreath laying service in the city that there were “parallels” with other attacks, referencing deadly incidents in the German cities of , and .
In each case, a migrant “injures and kills innocent people,” he said.
Police have taken a 28-year-old man from Afghanistan into custody over the attack.
The suspect had a past of violent behavior and was receiving psychiatric treatment, according to police. Moreover, he had said he would leave Germany voluntarily in December, but stayed in the country while still getting psychiatric help.
“We can and must never attribute the act of one individual to an entire population group,” Herzing said, while noting the city’s residents’ feelings of anger, grief and “thoughts of revenge.”
“I feel as if my own child had died — or my brother had died or been injured,” Herzing said. “I think it’s the same for many others.”
Some of the victims in the stabbing came from migrant backgrounds, with the 2-year-old who died in the attack coming from Morocco. A girl who was injured came from Syria.
The suspect accused of the attack is expected to appear in court later on Thursday.
German opposition leader calls for new asylum policy after Aschaffenburg attack
German opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), meanwhile, said Germany needs to overhaul its migration and asylum policies after the attack.
“We are faced with the tatters of 10 years of misguided asylum and migration policy of Germany,” Merz said, while calling for stop on all illegal entries to the country.
He said Germany should use national law to step in for “dysfunctional” EU asylum law, while urging permanent controls of all German borders.
Merz wants to implement these policies if he becomes chancellor after the February election. The CDU is currently leading in most opinion polls, with surveys showing them receiving between 28% to 34% of support in the German public.
wd/nm (Reuters, AFP)
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