NOTE TO ADD: The man the officer tackled in the original video was not, as it appeared, restraining the terrorist.
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A German police officer died of his injuries after being stabbed several times while trying to pull somebody clear of a knife attack in Mannheim on Friday , police and prosecutors said in a joint statement late on Sunday.
The 29-year-old officer had been in hospital in a coma following the attack.
"He underwent an emergency operation immediately after the crime and was put into an artificial coma, but succumbed to his serious injuries late in the afternoon on Sunday, June 2," the joint statement said. "We mourn a police officer who gave his life for our safety."
A 25-year-old man was filmed stabbing the police officer and five members of the anti-Islam citizen's movement calling itself PAX Europa at a booth in the city center the group had set up. One of those injured was a member of the group's advisory board, Michael Stürzenberger.
Investigators earlier said the suspect was an Afghan citizen who had been resident in Germany for around a decade. He had no criminal record and had not come to law enforcement's attention in the past, they said.
The suspect was eventually shot by police. As of Saturday evening, he was alive but in hospital and in no fit state to be interrogated, according to investigators. As a result, they said, his motives and the reason for his attack required further investigation.
The state premier of Baden Würtemmberg, where Mannheim is located, Winfried Kretschmann, said the news "shocks me to the core," and offered condolences to the victim's family, friends and colleagues.
"This awful crime puts the often incalucalable risks police officers are exposed to daily painfully before our eyes," Kretschmann said. "We owe them the highest respect and reverence as a society."
State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl said "these are moments where the world seems to stand still."
"He gave his life because he stepped in to protect other people," Strobl said of the 29-year-old officer. Other regional politicians rushed to pay similar tributes.
The head of the state chaper of one of Germany's main police trade unions, meanwhile, voiced not only sorrow but also frustration.
"The violence that we face daily is merciless, brutal, inhuman and often fatal," Ralf Kusterer said.
article, archive
A German police officer died of his injuries after being stabbed several times while trying to pull somebody clear of a knife attack in Mannheim on Friday , police and prosecutors said in a joint statement late on Sunday.
The 29-year-old officer had been in hospital in a coma following the attack.
"He underwent an emergency operation immediately after the crime and was put into an artificial coma, but succumbed to his serious injuries late in the afternoon on Sunday, June 2," the joint statement said. "We mourn a police officer who gave his life for our safety."
What do we know about the suspect?
A 25-year-old man was filmed stabbing the police officer and five members of the anti-Islam citizen's movement calling itself PAX Europa at a booth in the city center the group had set up. One of those injured was a member of the group's advisory board, Michael Stürzenberger.
Investigators earlier said the suspect was an Afghan citizen who had been resident in Germany for around a decade. He had no criminal record and had not come to law enforcement's attention in the past, they said.
The suspect was eventually shot by police. As of Saturday evening, he was alive but in hospital and in no fit state to be interrogated, according to investigators. As a result, they said, his motives and the reason for his attack required further investigation.
Politicians pay tribute, police union warns of 'daily' violence
The state premier of Baden Würtemmberg, where Mannheim is located, Winfried Kretschmann, said the news "shocks me to the core," and offered condolences to the victim's family, friends and colleagues.
"This awful crime puts the often incalucalable risks police officers are exposed to daily painfully before our eyes," Kretschmann said. "We owe them the highest respect and reverence as a society."
State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl said "these are moments where the world seems to stand still."
"He gave his life because he stepped in to protect other people," Strobl said of the 29-year-old officer. Other regional politicians rushed to pay similar tributes.
The head of the state chaper of one of Germany's main police trade unions, meanwhile, voiced not only sorrow but also frustration.
"The violence that we face daily is merciless, brutal, inhuman and often fatal," Ralf Kusterer said.
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