POLICE IN the Bavarian city of Passau released without charge yesterday two men suspected of stabbing the local police chief in what is being described as a neo-Nazi attack.
The two men, aged 26 and 27, were arrested on Sunday after the near-fatal knife attack at the home of Alois Mannichl (52) on Saturday evening. The police inspector had inadvertently left the knife on an outdoor window sill after putting up Christmas decorations.
His skinhead assailant spotted the knife and used it to stab Mr Mannichl, narrowly missing his heart. After an emergency operation, the police chief was recovering in hospital yesterday.
Police suspect local neo-Nazis of being behind the attack because of Mr Mannichl’s efforts to limit the activities of extremist groups.
Before the attack, Mr Mannichl’s assailant reportedly shouted: “You’ll trample on the graves of our comrades no longer.”
Investigators suggested yesterday that this was a reference to Mr Mannichl’s intervention during the summer to prevent extremists decorating the coffin of a former Nazi with a Third Reich flag. “We will continue to place emphasis during our investigations on the right wing, but we are not blind: we will look elsewhere too,” said a police spokesman after the release of the suspects yesterday.
The attack has shocked Passau residents. “This is a rural area; things like this don’t happen here,” said one of 600 locals who marched through the city yesterday in support of the police chief.