19 October 2015•Update: 27 October 2015
COLOGNE, Germany
A prominent pro-refugee politician who was stabbed as she campaigned to be mayor of the German city of Cologne has won Sunday’s elections.
Henriette Reker – who stood as an independent backed by Christian Democrats, Free Democrats and the Greens -- won 52.7 percent of the vote, becoming the first woman mayor of Germany’s fourth largest city.
Her rival Jochen Ott, from the Social Democratic Party, received 32.02 percent.
Reker was attacked Saturday during an outdoor campaign event by a 44-year-old man who shouted against the refugee policies of the government before being detained by a police officer.
The 58-year-old politician, who underwent surgery for serious neck wounds, was recovering at hospital, it was reported.
Police officer Norbert Wagner, head of the police investigation team, said Saturday the German citizen detained over the attack apparently had xenophobic motivations.
“In his initial testimony the suspect said that he has deliberately targeted Ms. Reker. He also said that he committed this act with a xenophobic motive,” Wagner told a news conference.
The suspect was living in Cologne for the past 15 years and was unemployed, Wagner added.
Reker is known for her pro-refugee stance and activities for the integration of immigrants in Cologne.
German authorities are alarmed by growing violence against refugees and pro-refugee politicians in recent months, as far-right and populist parties exploit growing refugee influx to the country.
More than 490 criminal attacks have been committed against asylum centers so far this year, and two-thirds of the identified suspects were ordinary citizens who were not known to police before as far-right extremists, according to the Interior Ministry.
Since January, Germany has taken in around 577,000 refugees -- more than double the figures for the whole of 2014, when 280,000 arrived. Germany expects 800,000 asylum applications by the end of the year.
