German mayoral candidate stabbed during campaign

Henriette Reker, who is running to become mayor of Cologne, was attacked at a market in the city this morning. He said he didn’t know how seriously she was injured.

Henriette Reker, an independent with ties to Chancellor Angela Merkel, was in stable condition as authorities investigated the incident, which occurred on the eve of the election, the Associated Press reported.

A mayoral candidate for the city of Cologne was wounded in a knife attack Saturday, German media reports said.

The suspected attacker, a man apparently aged between 30 and 40, was arrested.

Her aide was also said to have been severely injured, while three other people were also wounded, although not seriously.

The man, who lives in Cologne has been unemployed for several years, “confessed to having xenophobic motives”, he added.

Germany is braced for around 800,000 to one million new migrant arrivals this year as Europe deals with its most intense refugee crisis since World War II.

“This cowardly attack in Cologne is further evidence of the increasing radicalization of the refugee debate”, he said in a statement. ‘She was talking to two other party members when it happened’.

Prosecutor Ulf Willuhn said officials will now investigate whether that was in fact the man’s primary motive or whether his health played a role.

Reker’s work in the social services department of the city government entailed organizing accommodation for refugees in Cologne.

The premier of Germany’s northern state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft, condemned the attack and said that it targeted democracy and the whole society.

Since January, Germany has taken in around 577,000 refugees – more than double the figures for the whole of 2014, when 280,000 arrived.