For Senegalese dreaming of Europe, the deadly Atlantic route is not a deterrent  

THIAROYE-SUR-MER, Senegal — Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to get to Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Without her parents’ knowledge, she made it onto a small fishing boat known as a pirogue, but the Senegalese police intercepted the vessel before it could leave.—

A year later Ndiaye tried again, successfully making it off the coast but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where Ndiaye and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal.

Despite her two failed attempts, the 28-year-old is determined to try again. “Right now, if they told me there was a boat going to Spain, I would leave this interview and get on it,” she said.

Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to leave the West African country each year to head to Spain, fleeing poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spain’s Interior Ministry.

While most migrants leaving Senegal are young men, aid workers in the Canary Islands say they are increasingly seeing young women like Ndiaye risk their lives as well.

Earlier this year, the EU signed a 210 million euro deal with Mauritania to stop smugglers from launching boats for Spain. But the deal has had little effect on migrant arrivals for now.

The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will visit Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this week to tackle irregular migration. The West African nations are the main launching pads for migrants traveling by boat.

The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone.

Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains.

But the danger of the route is not a deterrent for those like Ndiaye, who are desperate to make a better living for themselves and their families in Europe. “Barsa wala Barsakh,” or “Barcelona or die” in Wolof, one of Senegal’s national languages, is a common motto of those who brave the deadly route.

“Even if we stay here, we are in danger,” said Cheikh Gueye, 46, a fisherman from Thiaroye-sur-Mer, the same village on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital that Ndiaye is from.

“If you are sick and you can’t pay for treatment, aren’t you in danger? So, we take our chances, either we get there, or we don’t,” he added.

Gueye also attempted to reach Europe though the Atlantic route but only made it to Morocco following bad weather, and was sent back to Senegal.

Like many inhabitants of Thiaroye-sur-Mer, he used to make a decent living as a fisherman before fish stocks started to deplete a decade ago due to overfishing.

“These big boats have changed things, before even kids could catch some fish here with a net,” Gueye said, pointing at the shallow water.

“Now we have to go more than 50 kilometers out before we find fish and even then we don’t find enough, just a little,” he adds.

Gueye and Ndiaye blame the fishing agreements between Senegal and the European Union and China, which allow foreign industrial trawlers to fish in Senegalese waters. The agreements impose limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what the large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult.

Ahead of the Spanish prime minister’s visit to Senegal on Wednesday, Ndiaye’s mother, Fatou Niang, 67, says the Senegalese and Spanish governments should focus on giving young people in the West African country job opportunities to deter them from migrating.

“These kids don’t know anything but the sea, and now the sea has nothing. If you do something for the youth, they won’t leave,” Niang says.

“But if not, well, we can’t make them stay. There’s no work here,” she said.

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ISW: Росія, ймовірно, перекидає війська з менш пріоритетних напрямків в Україні до Курщини

Інститут «виявив докази, що російське командування передислокувало частини 56-го полку ПДВ із району Роботиного до Курської області»

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China opposes US sanctions on firms with alleged ties to Russia’s war efforts

Beijing — China on Sunday expressed its opposition to the latest U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies over their alleged ties to Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying it will adopt necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of the country’s businesses.

The U.S. announced Friday sweeping sanctions on hundreds of firms in Russia and across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russia’s war effort and aiding its ability to evade sanctions. The U.S. Department of State said it was concerned by “the magnitude of dual-use goods exports” from China to Russia.

The Ministry of Commerce in China in its statement firmly opposed the U.S. putting multiple Chinese companies on its export control list. The move bars such companies from trading with U.S. firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license.

The ministry said the U.S. action was “typical unilateral sanctions,” saying they would disrupt global trade orders and rules, as well as affect the stability of the global industrial and supply chains.

“China urges the U.S. to immediately stop its wrong practices and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interest of Chinese companies,” it said.

The U.S. action is the latest in a series of thousands of U.S. sanctions that have been imposed on Russian firms and their suppliers in other nations since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The effectiveness of the sanctions has been questioned, especially as Russia has continued to support its economy by selling oil and gas on international markets.

According to the U.S. State Department, some China-based companies supplied machine tools and components to Russia companies.

China has tried to position itself as neutral in the Ukraine conflict, but it shares with Russia high animosity toward the West.

After Western countries imposed heavy sanctions on Russian oil in response to Russia sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, China strongly stepped up its purchase of Russian oil, increasing its influence in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin also underlined the importance of China by meeting in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon after being inaugurated for a fifth term in the Kremlin.

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Ukrainian shelling kills 5 in border area; Russian missile hits hotel with reporters

Kyiv — Five people died in Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, officials said Sunday, while Russian forces struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine, leaving one journalist missing and two others injured.

Twelve other people were wounded in the Russian village of Rakitone, 38 kilometers (23 miles) from the Ukrainian border, including a 16-year-old girl reported to be in critical condition, said regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Another man also died in a separate drone attack on the border village of Solovevka, he wrote later on social media.

Russian forces struck a hotel overnight in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in the country’s eastern Donetsk region, injuring two people and leaving one trapped under the rubble, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said. They were reported to be journalists from Ukraine, the U.S. and the U.K.

Reuters news agency said Sunday that its journalist covering the war in Ukraine was missing and two other team members were hospitalized after Hotel Sapphire, where a six-person crew was staying, was hit “by an apparent missile strike” Saturday. “One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment,” the agency said.

The rest of the team has been accounted for, the news agency said.

Local officials said that the hotel had been struck with an Iskander Russian ballistic missile, leaving the reporters with blast injuries, concussions, and cuts on the body.

Associated Press reporters at the scene described the former hotel as “rubble,” with excavators still being used to clear debris hours after the attack.

In addition to the hotel, a nearby multistory building was also destroyed, Filashkin said, and rescuers were busy clearing the debris at the site.

Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region also came under Russian fire, resulting in multiple civilian injuries, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

In Kharkiv’s Chuhuiv region, five people were injured, including a 4-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, after two houses were struck by Russian fire. In Kharkiv city, eight people were wounded when a two-story house was set on fire by a Russian attack.

In Balakliia, a Russian strike destroyed six houses and damaged others. A 55-year-old man was injured. In the Kupiansk area, a house was set on fire by a Russian attack, wounding four women.

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ДБР повідомило нардепу Дмитруку про підозру за побиття правоохоронця. Він виїхав з України – медіа

За даними ДБР, під час перебування в Одесі підозрюваний разом зі спільниками напав на співробітника правоохоронного органу

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Russian attacks on Ukraine injure at least 29, local authorities say

KYIV — Russia launched several missiles and drones overnight targeting northern and eastern Ukraine, injuring at least 29 people, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Sunday.

The attack targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia has been pummeling Ukrainian border regions with strikes, and Kyiv said its surprise incursion earlier this month into Russia’s Kursk region aimed to hinder Moscow’s ability to stage such attacks.

“Most of the missiles did not reach their targets,” the air force said, adding that Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, an Iskander-K cruise missile and six guided air missiles. It did not specify how many missiles were destroyed.

A missile attack on the northern region of Sumy killed one person, injuring at least 16 more, including three children, local authorities said on Telegram.

Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region in the east, posted on Telegram that at least 13 people were injured in the Russian attacks, including a 4-year-old child.

Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv city, said a gas pipeline was damaged in the city and at least two houses were destroyed and 10 damaged.

The air force said Russia launched nine attack drones, with Ukraine’s air defense systems destroying eight of them over the Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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German stabbing suspect is 26-year-old Syrian man who admitted to the crime

FRANKFURT, Germany — The suspect in custody for a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight is a 26-year-old Syrian man, authorities said early Sunday.

The suspect turned himself in and admitted to the crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement.

“The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” they said.

The attack, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, occurred Friday evening in the Fronhof, a market square where live bands were playing at a festival to celebrate Solingen’s 650-year history. Mourners have made a makeshift memorial near the scene.

The arrest of the suspect threatens to stoke fears ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, which the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning.

The suspect came from a home for refugees in Solingen that was searched on Saturday, said North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul.

Der Spiegel, citing unidentified security sources, reported that the man moved to Germany late in 2022 and sought asylum, and that his clothes had been smeared with blood.

The police declined to comment on the Spiegel report.

Meanwhile, German federal prosecutors have taken over the case and are investigating whether the suspect was a member of Islamic State, a spokesperson for the prosecutors said.

The group described the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a statement on its Telegram account on Saturday: “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

It did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion, and it was not clear how close any relationship between the attacker and Islamic State was.

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, on Saturday described the attack as an act of terror.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has counted around a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks since 2000.

One of the biggest was in 2016, when a Tunisian drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring dozens.

“The risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high. The Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target of terrorist organizations,” the BKA said in the report earlier this year.

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Sunflower oil dethrones olive oil in Spain’s kitchens as prices soar

madrid — Sunflower oil has dethroned olive oil as king of the kitchen in Spain, the world´s largest olive oil producer, as rising prices force consumers to switch to cheaper options. 

Spaniards bought 107 million liters (28.3 million gallons) of all types of olive oil in the first half of 2024 compared with 179 million liters of sunflower oil, according to Spain’s biggest olive oil bottling association, Anierac.  

Until this year, olive oil has been the most popular cooking oil in Spanish households, accounting for 62% of sales by volume in 2023 while sunflower oil represented almost 34%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. 

“It is clear that olive oil consumption is falling in Spain,” said Primitivo Fernandez, spokesman for Anierac. “There are households that used to buy only olive oil and for the first time are now buying sunflower oil and olive oil,” he said. 

Olive oil sales by volume fell 18% from the first half of 2023, Anierac said. Sunflower oil sales increased by 25% in volume last year, according to official data. 

A bottle of sunflower oil cost an average of 1.86 euros ($2.07) a liter last year, while pricier olive oil types cost upwards of 6 euros a liter, 50% more than in 2022, official data showed. 

Weather’s effects

Spain usually supplies around 40% of the world’s olive oil, but heat waves in the spring and a prolonged drought reduced olive harvests over the past two years, doubling olive oil prices to record levels. 

That has pushed the staple of the Mediterranean diet beyond the reach of poor households in Spain, which are switching to cheaper sunflower oil, according to a Ministry of Agriculture report on food consumption trends in 2023. 

At the end of last year, olive oil was mainly consumed in middle-class and upper-middle-class households, the report said. 

One-liter bottles of extra-virgin olive oil were selling for as much as 14.5 euros ($15.77) in some supermarkets last year, putting them in the category of products retailers fit with security tags. 

In June, the Spanish government cut the value added tax on olive oil to make it more affordable even as prices have eased a little this year. 

Spain’s largest supermarket chain, Mercadona, has cut the price of olive oil by 25% this year and this week was offering 1 liter bottles below 7 euros to try to woo back customers, a company source said.

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Spanish athlete with albinism fled Mali, now chases gold at Paralympics

LUGO, Spain — When Adiaratou Iglesias crossed the finish line at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, she did not know she had bagged a gold in the women’s 100-metre T13 race until she was told.

The visually impaired Spanish athlete, who goes by Adi and also won a 400m silver in Tokyo, said she now dreamed of hearing her adoptive family shout “gold” when she completes her races at the Paris Games this week.

Iglesias was born in Mali with albinism, a genetic condition that inhibits the production of melanin which pigments the skin, hair and eyes. Albinism impairs her visual perception by 90%, but thick corrective eyewear allows her to see around 20%.

“I don’t know anything when I cross the finish line because I can’t see what’s on my sides,” the 25-year-old told Reuters.

Iglesias said her biological parents decided to send her to Spain when she was 11 to prevent her from suffering attacks based on her albinism.

In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, people with albinism are sometimes killed for their body parts, which are prized in ritual witchcraft.

As a child, Iglesias used to run errands for her mother in Bamako, and she invariably did it as quickly as possible.

“I’ve always loved running and been passionate about it but I couldn’t (practice athletics) due to life circumstances until 2014,” she said, crediting the support from her adoptive mother, Lina Iglesias, without which “this never would’ve been possible.”

After spending time at a children’s shelter in northern Spain, Iglesias was adopted in 2013 and moved to the northwestern city of Lugo, obtaining Spanish citizenship.

Lina, 60, held back tears and beamed with pride when asked what it would mean to hug her daughter after winning in Paris. “It’d be a big thrill for me but not much more than what I feel each time I see her run or win.”

Last year, Iglesias — who is a fan of Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal — was invited by the European Commission to talk about combatting hate speech and hate crimes.

Despite spending most of her time at a high-performance center for elite athletes in Madrid, she wants to keep her medals — which include two golds from the 2021 European Championships and two silvers from the 2019 World Championships — in her childhood room in Lugo.

“It’ll be my museum, and it makes (Lina) very happy,” Iglesias said while sitting on her bed.

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CEO of Telegram messaging app arrested in France, say French media

paris — Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources. 

Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. It aims to hit 1 billion users in the next year.  

Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold. 

Durov was traveling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation. 

TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app. 

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment. 

App becomes popular during wartime

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered — and sometimes graphic and misleading — content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict. 

The app has become preferred means of communications for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officials. The Kremlin and the Russian government also use it to disseminate their news. It has also become one of the few places where Russians can access news about the war.

TF1 said Durov had been traveling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 18:00 GMT.  

Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app, which has now 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.” 

The Russia Embassy in France told the Russian state TASS news agency that it was not contacted by Durov’s team after the reports of the arrest, but it was taking “immediate” steps to clarify the situation.  

Bloggers encourage protesting French embassies

Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, and several other Russian politicians were quick to accuse France of acting as a dictatorship. 

“Some naive persons still don’t understand that if they play [a] more or less visible role in [the] international information space it is not safe for them to visit countries which move towards much more totalitarian societies,” Ulyanov wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

Several Russian bloggers called for protests at French embassies throughout the world at noon Sunday. 

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French authorities arrest suspect behind synagogue explosion that injured officer

NICE, France — French police apprehended and detained the suspect behind the arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town that injured a police officer, the country’s acting interior minister said early Sunday.

Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Saturday, the National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Saturday.

“The alleged perpetrator of the arson attack on the synagogue has been arrested,” Gerald Darmanin, the acting interior minister, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He visited the site Saturday afternoon along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and met with local officials and the synagogue staff.

Darmanin also hailed the “professional conduct” of police forces and its elite intervention unit “despite the gunfire” during the operation. He did not provide further information.

Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank in one of the vehicles exploded, the prosecutor’s statement said.

Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it added.

Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group and destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with an intent to cause harm, the statement said.

After the attack Saturday, Darmanin ordered police reinforcements to protect Jewish places of worship following what was “clearly a criminal act.”

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens of my full support and say that at the request of President Emmanuel Macron all means are being mobilized to find the perpetrator,” Darmanin posted on X. He ordered more police officers deployed at Jewish places of worship around the country following a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

La Grande Motte Mayor Stéphan Rossignol said that investigators were reviewing the city’s surveillance videos and said that a lone suspect was spotted at the site of the attack.

“The individual in question did not manage to get inside the synagogue, even though that was clearly his objective.” Rossignol said in an interview with broadcaster France Info.

Prosecutors said a male suspect spotted in surveillance videos fleeing the site was carrying a Palestinian flag and a weapon. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations amid an ongoing investigation.

President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and assured that “everything is being done to find (the) perpetrator.”

“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on X.

Attal, the acting prime minister, said the synagogue was targeted in the “antisemitic attack,” a “shocking and appalling” act of violence.

“Once again, French Jews have been targeted and attacked because of their beliefs,” Attal said after meetings in La Grand Motte. “We are outraged and repulsed.”

At least 200 police officers and other security personnel were deployed to apprehend the perpetrator, Attal added.

The assailant who hit the synagogue on the Shabbat morning was “very determined” to cause damage and casualties, Attal said and added that preliminary evidence collected by investigators shows that “we have narrowly avoided a tragedy.” 

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Блінкен у День Незалежності України: США «готові поглибити партнерство» з Києвом

Президент США Байден також привітав Україну, зазначивши, що вона залишається вільною країною через понад два роки після повномасштабного вторгнення РФ

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French authorities search for suspect after synagogue explosion

PARIS — French authorities opened a terrorism investigation Saturday after an arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town injured a police officer. Security forces were searching for a suspect.

Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. Saturday, antiterrorism prosecutors said in a statement.

Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank in one of the vehicles exploded, the statement said.

Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it added.

Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group and destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with an intent to cause harm, the statement said.

The mayor of La Grande Motte, Stephan Rossignol, said that investigators were reviewing the city’s surveillance videos and said that a lone suspect was spotted at the site of the attack.

“We don’t know if the individual has left the city or if he is still in the city,” Rossignol said in an interview with broadcaster France Info. “The individual in question did not manage to get inside the synagogue, even though that was clearly his objective.”

President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and assured that “everything is being done to find [its] perpetrator.”

“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on social media platform X.

Acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said called the attack an “an act of antisemitism.”

“Once again our Jewish fellow citizens are being targeted,” Attal said in a post on X. “Faced with antisemitism, faced with violence, we will never let ourselves be intimidated.”

Acting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered police reinforcements to protect Jewish places of worship and said the attack was being treated as “attempted arson” that is “clearly a criminal act.”

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens of my full support and say that at the request of President Emmanuel Macron all means are being mobilized to find the perpetrator,” Darmanin posted on X.

He ordered more police officers deployed at Jewish places of worship around the country following a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

Darmanin and Attal were expected to travel to Le Grand Motte later Saturday.

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German police scour city for knife attacker who killed 3 at festival

SOLINGEN, Germany — Special police units on Saturday joined the search for an unknown man who carried out a stabbing attack at a crowded festival in the western German city of Solingen, killing three people and wounding at least eight others, five of them seriously.

“The police are currently conducting a large-scale search for the perpetrator,” police said in a statement. “Both victims and witnesses are currently being questioned.”

Police did not indicate that they had yet established the identity of the attacker and warned people to stay vigilant even as well-wishers started to leave flowers at the scene. Police established an online portal where witnesses could upload video and any other information relevant to the attack.

People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday to an unknown attacker having wounded several people with a knife on a central square, the Fronhof. Police said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker and gave no information about the identities of the victims.

“Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep,” the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, said, speaking to reporters on Saturday near the scene of the attack.

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

The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours after the attack, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square.

One of the festival organizers, Philipp Muller, appeared on stage on Friday and asked festivalgoers to “go calmly; please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught.” Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.

The rest of the festival was canceled.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that the perpetrator of the attack must be caught quickly and punished with the full force of the law.

“The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand by their families,” Scholz said on social media platform X.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to the mayor Saturday morning.

“The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn those killed and worry about those injured, and I wish them strength and a speedy recovery from all my heart,” Steinmeier said in a statement on Saturday.

“The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice. Let’s stand together — against hatred and violence.”

There has been concern about increased knife violence in Germany. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters (almost 2½ inches) to be carried in public, rather than the 12 centimeters currently allowed.

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