Mannheim

In the space of a year, German cities saw a string of deadly attacks, which began in Mannheim in May 2024, when an Afghan national stabbed a police officer at a rally.

There was a parade through the Mannheim city centre on Sunday, with major events scheduled for Tuesday.

Merz, whose Christian Democrats lead the opinion polls ahead of 23 February federal elections, refused to accept that attacks in Mannheim last May, Solingen in August and Magdeburg last month, would be "the new normal".

His government had already announced plans earlier this year to resume deportations to Afghanistan and Syria in the wake of a deadly attack by a 25-year-old Afghan man in Mannheim.

A municipal candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany party was slashed with a box cutter in the western German city of Mannheim, the authorities said on Wednesday.