COLOGNE, Germany, Oct. 17 (UPI) — The leading candidate in Cologne, Germany’s mayoral race was stabbed in the neck by a man angry over the country’s policy to allow a large number of refugees and migrants into the country.
Henriette Reker was campaigning in a marketplace when a 44-year-old man attacked her with a 12-inch knife, possibly “out of xenophobic motives,” law enforcement said. Reker, 58, was taken to a local hospital after being stabbed in the trachea. She is “stable, but not out of the woods,” police said.
Witnesses told police the man, who has been identified only as Frank S., approached Reker as she was handing out flowers to a crowd. He asked her if he could have a rose and began his attack, shouting about “refugee glut,” and saying “I am the Messiah. I am doing it all for you.”
Four others were wounded, including campaign workers, as they wrestled two knives out of the attackers hands. The attacker is said to be a Germany native and a Cologne resident for 15 years.
Reker, Cologne’s head of social affairs, integration and environment, is considered the leading candidate in the election scheduled for Sunday. She has been responsible for refugee housing and integration in Cologne, which has seen massive marches in the past months in support of and against welcoming asylum seekers into the country.
Police said the suspect appears to have acted alone and had no police record. Ralf Jager, a regional interior minister, said the attack appears politically motivated.
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