Suspect arrested after stabbing at Berlin's Holocaust memorial

German police said on Friday that a Spanish man was badly wounded in an assault, "possibly with a sharp object", at central Berlin's Holocaust memorial near the US embassy.

"A man was seriously injured by an unknown person" there, the police said on X, adding that "rescue workers are caring for several people on site who had to witness the events". 

To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

Accept Manage my choices

Berlin police said the victim was seriously injured around 6pm and taken to a hospital. 

Six people who witnessed the assault received counselling from rescue services who rushed to the scene, where bloodied clothes were left on the ground.

Police, some with assault rifles, cordoned off the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a sombre grid of concrete steles located near the Brandenburg Gate.

With the downtown area doused in blue police lights and sirens wailing, police launched a manhunt of the inner city and used a cherry picker crane to get a birds-eye view of the vast memorial.

Then, over three hours after the assault, a man approached a group of police at the scene before the officers wrestled him to the ground. 

"We have the suspect," shouted one officer as other police rushed over. The man was handcuffed lying face-down on the ground.

"We just arrested a male suspect," police spokesman Florian Nath soon confirmed. "It's probably the suspect that attacked the 30-year-old Spanish citizen at 6:00 pm here at the memorial."

Nath said the man detained had been seen by police to have "blood on his hands".

Police stressed that so far "we don't know anything about the motive" or the identity of the suspect in custody, who was refusing to talk to them.

Series of attacks ahead of national elections 

The incident came two days before German national elections following a heated campaign season that saw the far-right AfD party's popularity rising in polls. Over the past few months, a series of deadly attacks have shocked Germany, including car-rammings and stabbing sprees.

German police said earlier Friday they had arrested an 18-year-old Russian man on suspicion of planning a "politically motivated" attack in Berlin.

The man was detained late Thursday in the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin, police and prosecutors said in a statement.

Authorities did not provide further details about the alleged attack plot, but the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported the suspect was Chechen and was believed to have been planning an attack on the Israeli embassy.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)