Three dead, several wounded in knife attack on German festival

Agence France-Presse

<p>SOLINGEN, Germany — Three people were killed and four severely wounded in a knife attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the police in nearby Duesseldorf.</p><p>Police have launched a &quot;major operation&quot; to find the suspect, who is on the run, the spokeswoman said, adding that a &quot;wide area&quot; had been cordoned off.</p><p>Police were at the scene with helicopters and emergency vehicles, and had asked the public to avoid the area, according to the broadcaster ZDF.</p><p>The festival was part of a series of events to celebrate the city&#x27;s 650th birthday.</p><p>In a statement posted online, Tim-Oliver Kurzbach, the mayor of Solingen, said the whole city was in &quot;shock, horror and great grief&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We all wanted to celebrate our town&#x27;s anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured,&quot; he said.</p><p>Kurzbach thanked the emergency services for their work at the scene and expressed sympathy with those who had witnessed the attack.</p><p>&quot;It tears my heart apart that there was an attack on our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives,&quot; he said.</p><p>Solingen is a city of some 150,000 people located an equal distance from Duesseldorf and Cologne.</p><p>People had gathered in the town on Friday evening for the first day of a three-day &quot;Festival of Diversity&quot;, according to the event&#x27;s website.</p><p>The festival was set to feature music, street theatre, variety shows and comedians in the city centre and several other areas, it said.</p><p>Up to 75,000 visitors were expected to attend over the three days.</p><div><strong>&#x27;In shock&#x27;</strong></div><p>The Solinger Tageblatt newspaper reported that one of the co-organisers of the festival had come on stage to cancel the event.</p><p>The crowd were also asked to leave the city centre, it said.</p><p>Following the announcement, thousands of attendees cleared the area, the paper reported, with a journalist at the scene describing the atmosphere as &quot;ghostly&quot;.</p><p>&quot;People left the scene in shock, but calmly,&quot; Philipp Mueller, one of the organisers, told the newspaper.</p><p>A witness who spoke to the Tageblatt said he was a few metres from the attack, not far from the stage, and &quot;understood from the expression on the singer&#x27;s face that something was wrong&quot;.</p><p>&quot;And then, a meter away from me, a person fell,&quot; said the man, Lars Breitzke, who at first thought it was someone who was drunk.</p><p>But when he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood, he added.</p><p>Germany has seen a series of knife attacks over the past 12 months, with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser promising to crack down on knife crime.</p><p>A police officer was killed and five people were wounded in a knife attack at a far-right rally in the city of Mannheim in late May.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1DcJFKo6fdY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Three people were killed and four severely wounded in a knife attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the police in nearby Duesseldorf.</p>

Three people were killed and four severely wounded in a knife attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the police in nearby Duesseldorf.

Three dead, several wounded in knife attack on German festival | ABS-CBN

Entertainment

News

Metro.Style

Sports

More

World

Three dead, several wounded in knife attack on German festival

Three dead, several wounded in knife attack on German festival

Agence France-Presse

Published Aug 24, 2024 08:49 AM PHT

Read More:

Germany

Knife attack

Solingen

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Advertise with Us

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.