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Knife Attack Sparks Asylum Debate and Protests in Germany

10/17/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Enamullah O. appeared in a German court for a deadly knife attack in Aschaffenburg nine months earlier, killing a two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man, and injuring three others.
Prosecutors said O. suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and sought his permanent confinement to a psychiatric facility.
The attack intensified migration debates, with Friedrich Merz calling for stricter asylum rules.
Merz's appeal to far-right support drew public backlash and protests in Germany.

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Story summary

Enamullah O. appeared in a German court for a deadly knife attack in Aschaffenburg nine months earlier, killing a two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man, and injuring three others.
Prosecutors said O. suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and sought his permanent confinement to a psychiatric facility.
The attack intensified migration debates, with Friedrich Merz calling for stricter asylum rules.
Merz's appeal to far-right support drew public backlash and protests in Germany.