Solingen stabbing comes amid steep rise in knife crime in Germany | Germany

Germany has skilled a steep rise in knife violence lately, and the mass deadly stabbing within the western metropolis of Solingen will compound the stress on the federal government to crack down on the issue, officers and analysts mentioned.

Safety authorities say assaults with knives are significantly concentrated in metropolis centres and at railway stations, main the nation’s inside minister, Nancy Faeser, this month to name for restrictions on the weapons in public areas, days earlier than the assault that claimed the lives of three individuals at a competition in Solingen.

Faeser has proposed solely permitting the carrying of knives with blade lengths of 6cm, down from the 12cm at present allowed, with exceptions just for family knives in closed packaging which have simply been purchased.

She advised public broadcaster ARD on 11 August: “We wish a common ban on harmful switchblades and can current the related amendments to weapons legal guidelines quickly.”

She added that native governments ought to create extra weapon-free and significantly knife-free zones of their communities.

“Brutal violent acts are being carried out with knives that result in the worst accidents or might be lethal,” she mentioned, outlining the necessity for motion.

Police statistics present a virtually 6% year-on-year improve in critical bodily assaults utilizing a knife, to eight,951 circumstances in 2023 in contrast with 2022. These included assaults wherein victims have been injured or threatened with a knife.

Federal police, who’re additionally accountable for safety at railway stations, mentioned knife crimes there had soared final yr to 777 assaults, with 430 circumstances recorded within the first half of this yr.

Charité hospital in Berlin reported treating as many stab wounds within the first six months of 2024 as within the entirety of 2023, in accordance with public broadcaster RBB – about 50 to 55 circumstances.

Germany’s 16 states have lengthy been calling for harder federal measures to deal with the rash of knife crimes. Faeser had known as for higher police enforcement of present weapons legal guidelines after police shot and wounded a person in Could who injured six individuals in a knife assault at a rightwing demonstration within the south-western metropolis of Mannheim. Among the many victims was a 29-year-old policeman who intervened and was fatally stabbed.

The nation has already outlawed the acquisition or possession of sure bladed weapons, together with butterfly knives, which might carry a jail sentence of as much as three years or a superb. So-called one-hand knives, which might be simply opened, and knives with 12cm blades or longer will not be carried exterior one’s dwelling or property.

On Saturday, within the aftermath of the lethal assault in Solingen, which additionally badly injured 5 individuals, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, promised powerful motion in opposition to the assailant. “The perpetrator should be caught rapidly and punished to the total extent of the regulation,” Scholz posted on X.

In the meantime, MPs from the co-ruling Social Democrats (SPD), Scholz and Faeser’s occasion, stepped up their requires stricter legal guidelines.

Dirk Wiese, the deputy head of the SPD parliamentary group, advised the day by day newspaper Rheinische Publish: “It’s clear to me that our safety companies will need to have extra powers to recognise such perpetrators in time, significantly within the digital sphere.

“On the similar time, now we have bought to lastly make progress on knife bans in mild of the possible terror assault on the town competition in Solingen.”

The far-right Different für Deutschland occasion has tried to grab on road crime and knife violence as a difficulty, significantly in campaigning for 3 state elections subsequent month in japanese Germany wherein it’s anticipated to carry out nicely.

Celebration co-leader Alice Weidel final month claimed in a tv interview that there had been “greater than 15,000” knife crimes in 2023, calling it a “document” and accusing younger immigrant males of being disproportionately accountable.

Weidel later corrected final yr’s determine to 13,844, which included robberies wherein a knife was used to threaten the sufferer.

Federal police have solely been gathering particular statistics on knife crime since 2021, making annual comparisons troublesome and reliant on information compiled from particular person states.

Criminologist Dirk Baier warned that stricter legal guidelines have been unlikely to root out knife assaults.

“That received’t scare off younger perpetrators,” he advised public broadcaster MDR. “And in weapons-ban zones you’ve bought to have checks and the query is whether or not now we have sufficient personnel.”

He known as for youth training to deal with the surge in stabbings, “explaining for instance that you just’re probably to harm your self when you carry a knife”.

“You may’t clear up the issue with a regulation,” he mentioned. “It’s a social drawback and must be addressed with social measures.”