A candidate for the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was stabbed in the German city of Mannheim late Tuesday evening, just days after the city witnessed a similar attack by an Islamist who killed a policeman.
Local AfD politician Heinrich Koch caught a group of people tearing down his party’s election posters and was stabbed in the abdomen when he challenged them—a confrontation he captured on film.
In diesem Video soll der Angriff auf Heinrich Koch, den AfD-Politiker, in Mannheim zu sehen sein. #mannheim #afd pic.twitter.com/nWrUVHxT4w
— Junge Freiheit (@Junge_Freiheit) June 5, 2024
Koch is currently in hospital. Mannheim police have confirmed that the perpetrator has been arrested, but have thus far not given any details about his identity.
The AfD claims that the perpetrator had a left-wing extremist motive.
On X, Alice Weidel, co-chair of the AfD in the German Parliament, commented on the video, saying that “by agitating against the opposition, [German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’] traffic light coalition government and the media are creating a climate in which even extreme physical attacks are no longer shied away from. We condemn this violence and call on people to finally return to basic democratic practices!”
Der Angriff auf #AfD-Mitglied Heinrich #Koch im Video: Mit ihrer Hetze gegen die Opposition schaffen Ampel & Medien ein Klima, in dem selbst vor extremen körperlichen Attacken nicht mehr zurückgeschreckt wird. Wir verurteilen diese Gewalt und fordern dazu auf, sich endlich auf… pic.twitter.com/M8NSeYhaPy
— Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) June 5, 2024
Tino Chrupalla, Weidel’s co-chair and lead spokesman for the AfD, said that “our members and representatives are the most frequent victims of political violence and vandalism. That cannot stop us.”
In Mannheim ist unser Gemeinderatskandidat Heinrich Koch mit einem Messer verletzt worden, als er Plakatzerstörer stellte. Unsere Mitglieder und Repräsentanten sind am häufigsten Opfer politischer Gewalt und Zerstörung. Das kann uns nicht aufhalten. Schnelle Genesung, Heinrich!
— Tino Chrupalla (@Tino_Chrupalla) June 5, 2024
Anton Baron, a member of the AfD’s parliamentary constituency of Wahlkreis Hohenlohe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, where Mannheim is situated, said:
This attack is an expression of totalitarian power fantasies. Whether Islamism or left-wing extremism—whoever does not accept freedom of expression or is without reasonable arguments, is now reaching for a knife. This is disheartening and shows how deep the divide in our society has become.
Markus Frohnmaier, an AfD member sitting in the German federal parliament, commented:
We are frightened and disturbed that another brutal knife attack in Mannheim has hit one of our election candidates. We wish Heinrich Koch a speedy and complete recovery. Democracy in Germany is in a catastrophic state when besides Islam critics, AfD members now have to fear being attacked with a knife. Islamism and left-wing extremism are the greatest threat to our democracy, but this is sadly still ignored. [Interior Minister] Nancy Faeser and Thomas Strobl [Deputy prime minister of Baden-Württemberg] carry a political responsibility for Homeland Security and are failing in this completely!
In addition to the alarming nature of the incident itself, some anomalies have been observed in German media’s reporting on it.
For instance, at time of writing, Zeit Online, despite several updates having been made to the original story, still has not mentioned Heinrich Koch’s name, nor provided a picture.
The supposedly ‘conservative’ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also doesn’t care to mention the name, nor provide a picture.
Germany’s most popular newspaper, Bild, does name him, but for some reason pixelated his face at first, but then later, updated the story with his face unpixelated.
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