German knife attack victim a symbol of anti-refugee anger

Henriette Reker who runs refugee services in Cologne was out campaigning to become the German city's first female mayor when she was stabbed by an assailant with a far-right background.

The attack, in which Reker was seriously wounded in the neck by a man motivated by "xenophobic sentiments", has turned the 58-year-old trained lawyer into Germany's most prominent victim of a growing backlash against a record influx of refugees.

From now on Reker's name will come up whenever discussion turns towards the "growing aggression and the brutalisation of the political discourse," said national news agency DPA.

Married to an Australian professional golfer, Reker has for five years run the Department of Social Affairs, Integration and Environment in Cologne, the western city best known for its cathedral, the largest Gothic church in northern Europe.

In charge of accommodating asylum-seekers from Syria and other war zones, she has housed them in sports halls, former commercial spaces and other sites, and called for their social integration as Germany faces up to a million new arrivals this year.

"Cologne is a growing city with a housing problem. The highest priority right now is to make sure nobody sleeps under bridges," she told news weekly Die Zeit in March.

She recently sparred with Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, rejecting his criticism of the city's handling of the migrant crisis, and telling him the support offered by the church so far was "not the level of help that we would like to see".
- 'Great sympathy' -
Described as a diligent worker and able administrator, she had largely shunned the limelight for most of her public service career until running in Sunday's election for the mayorship of Cologne, Germany's fourth largest city.

Lying in her hospital bed as voting got under way, Reker is seen as having a good chance of winning the race. Hospital staff say she was expected to make a full recovery.

"The election has suddenly taken on another dimension," said conservative newspaper Die Welt, which predicted a "sympathy factor" for the candidate.

In the campaign, she has run as an independent, but has the backing of the ecologist Greens, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU and the liberal and pro-business FPD. She is facing several opponents, with the main challenge coming from a centre-left Social Democrat.

Calling Cologne "a thriving metropolis" in the heart of Europe, she has pledged "fundamental changes" in how the city is run and a new and "more transparent governing style".

She has also campaigned on a ticket of more affordable housing, eco-mobility and public spaces for culture and the arts.

After Saturday's attack, which sparked a national outcry and a large solidarity rally, her campaign team issued a statement saying she was expected to "fully recover" and expressing thanks for the hundreds of messages of support they had received from as far afield as the United States and India.

Source: AFP