Solingen stabbing attack: Police manhunt under way in Germany after three killed at diversity festival | Germany

German musician Topic said he was playing on a nearby stage when the attack occurred, Reuters reports.

He was told about what happened but was asked to continue “to avoid causing a mass panic attack”, he said in a post on Instagram. He was eventually told to stop, and “since the attacker was still on the run, we hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above us,” he wrote.

What we know so far

Security services ‘doing all they can’ to catch assailant

We’ll pause this live blog in a moment – it’s almost 3.25am in Solingen. You can read our full report here on the west German knife attacks and the police search for the perpetrator. Thanks for being with us.

The premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, the west German state that takes in Solingen, said the attacks had “struck our country to the heart”.

Hendrik Wüst posted on X:

North Rhine-Westphalia is united in shock and grief. In these dark hours, the people of our state and beyond are in Solingen with their hearts and thoughts.

An act of brutal and senseless violence has struck our country to the heart.

The whole of North Rhine-Westphalia stands by the people of Solingen, especially the victims and their families.

A big thank you goes to the many rescue workers and our police who are fighting for people’s lives at this very moment.

Solinger Tageblatt deputy editor Björn Boch has told the BBC the celebrations at the festival had been “supposed to last for three days, and the city expected 25,000 people every night”.

“The city was just packed with people,” he said, estimating that “a few thousands people” were at Friday’s free event.

Pictures have arrived of German special forces police at work in Solingen after Friday night’s stabbings. Police have said three people were killed and four seriously injured and a “large contingent” of police were searching for the perpetrator.

A witness who spoke to the local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt said he was a few metres from the attack, not far from the stage, and “understood from the expression on the singer’s face that something was wrong”.

“And then, a metre away from me, a person fell,” said the man, Lars Breitzke, who at first thought it was someone who was drunk.

But when he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood, he added.

Agence France-Presse also cited the newspaper as reporting that one of the co-organisers of the diversity festival came on stage after the attacks to cancel the event and that the crowd was asked to leave the city centre.

Following the announcement, thousands of attendees cleared the area, the paper reported, with a journalist at the scene describing the atmosphere as “ghostly”.

“People left the scene in shock, but calmly,” Philipp Mueller, one of the organisers, told the newspaper.

Germany has seen a series of knife attacks over the past 12 months, with the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, promising to crack down on knife crime. A police officer was killed and five people were wounded in a knife attack at a far-right rally in the south-western city of Mannheim in late May.

Here’s our just-updated full report on the knife attacks in the west German city of Solingen and the police search for the suspect:

The state interior minister, Herbert Reul, has visited the scene of the stabbings and told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life but declined to speculate on the motive, Reuters reports.

Solingen is in North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany’s most populous state and bordering the Netherlands.

The attack occurred at the Fronhof, the mayor has said, a market square where live bands were playing.

The local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt quoted its reporter covering the festival as saying a party atmosphere had turned to shock within minutes after the attacks and that she saw festival-goers weeping.

“The atmosphere is spooky,” Celine Derikartz said, according to an Associated Press report.

The Festival of Diversity, marking the western German city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics, as we have reported.

Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.

Police say knife used in attack and ‘large contingent’ searching for perpetrator

German police have said that so far they have only very thin information on the perpetrator of the attack, who is on the run, the Associated Press reports.

Police said they believed the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.

One of the festival organisers, Philipp Müller, appeared on stage earlier and asked festival-goers to “go calmly – please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught”.

He said many people had been wounded by “a knifeman”.

At least one helicopter was seen in the air, while many police and emergency vehicles with flashing blue lights were on the road and several streets were closed off.

Here are some of the images coming in from Solingen after the attack.

The attack occurred amid a heated political debate about rising knife violence in German cities. German news agency dpa cited police sources as saying a knife was used in this attack but that has not been publicly confirmed

Police have so far declined to discuss a possible motive or the identity of the suspect.

The local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt has reported that authorities urged people to leave central Solingen in the wake of the attack, and that one of the festival organisers, Philipp Müller, said on a stage that emergency workers were fighting for the lives of nine people.

Rolling news channel NTV showed a video of Müller asking the crowd not to “panic” and to be careful leaving the premises because the attacker was still at large.

The attack happened at a square in the city centre hosting the Festival of Diversity, which began on Friday and was supposed to run through to Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

Tens of thousands of visitors had been expected over the course of the festival.

Music acts were being performed at the time of the attack.

Local mayor Tim Kurzbach wrote on Facebook: “Tonight we are all in Solingen in shock, fright and great sadness. We all wanted to celebrate our city anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured.”

He said he was praying for all those who are still fighting for their lives and thanked emergency and security services for their work.

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