German mayor found stabbed outside home, Merz condemns ‘heinous’ attack

The newly-elected mayor of a town in Germany is in critical condition after she was reportedly stabbed outside her home.

Iris Staltzer, a 57-year-old mother of two teenagers, was found with life-threatening injuries in the Ruhr city of Herdecke, according to a report by CNN.

She was airlifted to the hospital.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government had received news of the “heinous crime.”

“We fear for the life of the mayor-elect, Iris Stalzer, and hope for her full recovery. My thoughts are with her family and loved ones,” Merz said on X.

Stalzer, standing for the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), was elected mayor of Herdecke in a runoff vote on September 28. She is due to take office in November.

The city administration in Herdecke said it was in “shock and disbelief,” without providing further details of the attack, which was reported by German tabloid Bild and local public broadcaster WDR.

There has been a string of attacks on German politicians in recent years. The country was rocked by the 2019 murder of Walter Lübcke, a local government official who supported the pro-refugee policies of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel. Lübcke was shot dead by a neo-Nazi while smoking a cigarette on the terrace of his house. His attacker is now serving a life sentence.