BERLIN, May 31 (Xinhua) -- German police shot down a man on the market square in Mannheim on Friday after he attacked and injured several people with a knife before a political rally, according to local police.
Police were initially unable to say how many people were injured in the attack and how serious the injuries were. A police officer was also among the injured. There is no more danger to the public, authorities said.
German media reported that the attacked is a well-known anti-Islam activist Michael Stuerzenberger, the author of an anti-Islam blog and a member of the right-wing populist association BPE.
"This was not an attack, but an act of terror," Stefanie Kizina, treasurer of the BPE told German tabloid BILD. Because the attack happened before the rally which Stuerzenberger was attending, "it must have been planned long in advance," she stressed.
A video of the incident is circulating on social media. According to the police, the motivation for the knife attack is still unclear. Whether there was a political background would be subject of the investigation. ■
