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       38

German Mayoral Candidate Stabbed In Anti-Refugee Attack

   10/17/2015 02:15 pm ET
   Associated Press
   Geir Moulson
   [56228f251400002b003c87ac.jpeg]
   - via Getty Images

   BERLIN (AP) — A leading candidate to be mayor of Cologne was stabbed
   and seriously wounded Saturday by a man who claimed anti-foreigner
   motives, an attack that Germany's interior minister said underlined
   growing concerns over hatred and violence in the refugee crisis.

   Henriette Reker was stabbed in the neck at a campaign stand set up by
   Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats at a market. Her
   condition was stable, police chief Wolfgang Albers said.

   Reker is an independent candidate in Sunday's election for the new
   mayor of Germany's fourth-biggest city, but is backed by Merkel's
   conservatives and two other parties. The 58-year-old currently heads
   Cologne's social affairs and integration department, and is responsible
   for refugee housing.
   [56228f751400002200c7a2e1.jpeg] OLIVER BERG via Getty Images

   Another woman was seriously wounded and three people had minor injuries
   from the attack, senior police investigator Norbert Wagner told
   reporters.

   The suspected assailant, a 44-year-old German national and Cologne
   resident who said he had been unemployed for several years, told
   officials that he targeted Reker and that "he wanted to and did commit
   this act because of anti-foreigner motives," Wagner said. He added that
   the man appeared to have acted alone and had no police record.

   Prosecutor Ulf Willuhn said officials will now investigate whether that
   was in fact the man's primary motive or whether his health played a
   role. They plan to carry out a psychiatric examination.
   [56228f4212000026007e55a1.jpeg] OLIVER BERG via Getty Images

   Asked whether the suspect had specifically mentioned Reker's or
   Merkel's policies on refugees, Wagner said: "No. He made general
   statements in that direction — he didn't mention Ms. Merkel at all."

   City officials said Sunday's election would go ahead as planned.

   Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere described the stabbing as "an
   attack on our democracy" and said he had long been "concerned by the
   hate-filled language and violent actions that accompany the refugee
   debate in Germany."

   "This cowardly attack in Cologne is further evidence of the increasing
   radicalization of the refugee debate," he said in a statement.
   [56228f971400006f003c87ad.jpeg] OLIVER BERG via Getty Images

   Germany has taken in more refugees and other migrants than any other
   European Union country, and the influx is stretching its capacity to
   house newcomers. Most Germans have been welcoming, but there have been
   repeated attacks this year on refugee shelters, ranging from arson to
   racist graffiti.

   Attacks on politicians are rare in Germany, but there have been
   prominent cases.

   Then-Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was shot by a deranged man
   while campaigning in October 1990, an attack that left him using a
   wheelchair. A few months earlier, a mentally disturbed woman stabbed
   Oskar Lafontaine, then a prominent member of Germany's main opposition
   party, while he was campaigning in Cologne.

MORE:

   Henriette Reker, Refugee Crisis, Cologne, Angela Merkel, Refugees

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