German mayor 'fighting for life' after being stabbed multiple times

The incoming mayor of a German town is said to be fighting for her life after being stabbed multiple times.

Iris Stalzer is due to take office next month in Herdecke, in the Ruhr region, after being elected on 28 September. Details of Tuesday's incident are still emerging but it appears to have been a ferocious daytime attack.

Her 15-year-old adopted son told police his mother had been attacked on the street by several men, according to Bild. Westfalenpost said the politician had been stabbed 13 times but managed to drag herself back to her flat - where her 17-year-old daughter was also reportedly home.

Broadcaster WDR said the attacker was still on the run, while other reports said her son was led away in handcuffs. "We have received news of a terrible deed in Herdecke," Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on social media.

"It must be swiftly investigated. We fear for the life of the mayor-designate and hope for her full recovery." There was a large police presence in the town of about 23,000 after the incident, with a helicopter landing nearby to take the 57-year-old to hospital.

A security source later told Reuters she was in a critical condition. Ms Stalzer - an employment lawyer - is part of the centre-left Social Democrats and beat a centre-right Christian Democrat candidate to secure her new job.

It's not the first time politicians have been viciously attacked in Germany. In 2019, conservative local government president Walter Luebcke was shot dead by a far-right activist as he smoked on his terrace at home.

Four years before, Henriette Reker was stabbed the day before she was elected as Cologne's mayor. The attacker was also a far-right extremist, but Ms Reker recovered and is due to leave office this year.

A recent study said 60% of politicians in Germany had experienced violence at least once, with one in five saying it's made them more hesitant to appear in public..