Pro-refugee mayor of German town survives stabbing

BERLIN: A west German mayor stabbed in the neck in a kebab shop said yesterday the attack was premeditated, claiming his attacker was angered by his pro-refugee stance.

“Yes, the knife was meant for me,” said Andreas Hollstein, the mayor of Altena and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, during a press conference just hours after his release from hospital.

Hollstein recalled entering a kebab shop to buy dinner for his sick wife when a man approached him and asked whether he was the mayor.

He quoted his attacker as saying, “You are letting me die of thirst while bringing 200 refugees to Altena”, as the man pulled a 30cm-long knife from his pocket and stabbed him in the neck.

Under Hollstein, Altena – a town of 17 000 people – took in more refugees than required under a national quota.

The attacker, whom officials describe as “a 56-year-old man suspected of having a xenophobic motive”, was wrestled to the ground by the injured mayor and two of the kebab shop owners and held down until the police had arrived to arrest him.

Hollstein said he could smell alcohol on the man’s breath, but that he was still in command of his full physical strength, adding he had demanded to be shot dead by police when officers arrived at the scene.

The mayor received medical treatment for his 15cm stab wound.

Merkel joined politicians in expressing their shock at the attack, which is reminiscent of the stabbing of Henriette Reker, the mayor of Cologne, two years ago.

Reker was also known for her liberal refugee policies.

“I am appalled by the knife attack against mayor Andreas Hollstein – and very relieved that he is able to be with his family again,” Merkel was quoted as saying by her spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, on Twitter.

“Thank you also to those who helped him.”

Merkel’s decision in September 2015 to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of stranded refugees caused an enormous backlash, where a sudden rise in anti-immigrant sentiment underpinned the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Police and prosecutors are expected to update the public on their investigation. – dpa