Police shoot, injure man who attacked far-right demo in Germany’s Mannheim

German police said they shot and wounded a man armed with a knife who attacked a right-wing demonstration in the southwestern city of Mannheim on Friday.

Social media footage showed a bearded man attacking people in the city’s central Marktplatz square with a knife. One person appears to be stabbed in the leg and a policeman who tries to intervene appears to be cut in the neck. Another policeman then shoots the attacker.

“A firearm was used against the attacker,” Mannheim police said in a statement. A rescue helicopter was in attendance and trams in the area had been suspended.

No information was available on the identity or motives of the attacker and police said they could not yet give details about any injuries among the demonstrators in the square.

A livestream broadcast from central Mannheim showed anti-Islam activist Michael Stuerzenberger preparing to address a small crowd.

The footage bore a watermark linked to Stuerzenberger’s “Open Eyes” anti-Islam campaigning tour.

The violence comes in the final stretch of a European parliament campaign in which the far-right Alternative for Germany party has campaigned partially on what the party says is the danger posed by migration from Muslim countries.

Stuerzenberger, 59, who describes himself as an Islam-critical journalist, has been a member of several far-right anti-Islam organizations, including the PEGIDA movement that holds regular marches in cities especially in eastern Germany.

There was no longer any immediate danger to the public, police said in a statement.