The knife attack in Würzburg left the city in great sadness. Hundreds of people showed their compassion with a human chain. AfD and Antifa also held commemorative events.
Würzburg – A week after the fatal knife attack in Würzburg, hundreds of people in the city center thought of the victims with a human chain.
Around 600 participants lined up near the crime scene from the Julius promenade to the town hall, as the police announced. Among them was Würzburg’s Bishop Franz Jung.
At 5 p.m., the approximate time of the crime, the Salvator Bell in Kilians Cathedral rang for ten minutes as a call to prayer. Rescue workers, nuns, monks, Würzburg citizens and guests held flowers in their hands and signs with the words “Würzburg mourns” and “Würzburg holds together” – in German, English, Arabic and other languages.
They also want to show solidarity with the people who are now exposed to prejudice and agitation, as well as respect for the courageous helpers, rescue workers and pastors, it was said in advance of the Würzburg Alliance for Democracy and Civil Courage, which helped organize the funeral event.
Political memorial rallies
In the evening there were commemorative rallies from the political spectrum. A large contingent of police officers, including the riot and federal police, was available in the event of riots.
The AfD gathered with around 100 people to lay a wreath, including Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament. Actually, the party wanted to lay the wreaths directly at the scene of the crime, but the city of Würzburg decided on a different location in order to avoid possible disruptions at the place of remembrance.
A commemorative event of an alliance consisting of Antifa, Fridays For Future, the aid organization Sea-Eye and other organizations and groups was planned for the evening on Bahnhofplatz.
Last Friday, a Somali man stabbed three women in a department store and injured seven people, some of them life-threatening. The motive is still unclear. The 24-year-old had previously repeatedly shown mental health problems. According to Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU), there are also indications of a possible Islamist motive. dpa
