On 31 May 2024 at 11:34 am, a man ambushed and stabbed several people at a rally hosted by the counter-jihad and anti-Islam group Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (BPE) in the market square in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Someone shouted a warning to alert Stürzenberger, with two BPE supporters, Konrad Schneider from Ortenau and Jony L., an Iraqi Aramean, running over to fend off the attack.

[26] Following the attack, Ataee had emergency surgery and was placed in an induced coma at Theresien Hospital [de] for approximately two weeks.

[30] He began voicing sympathies for the Islamic State, but no evidence was found that he established direct contact or received orders from IS.

[4][15][31] The Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation announced that he was given an arrest warrant for attempted murder, and his apartment was searched.

The prosecution cited the reasons for the murder charge, which automatically carries a life sentence on conviction, as malice aforethought and "base motives" of the defendant after German law.

[33] On 3 June, a memorial service was held in Mannheim for the murdered police officer attended by around 8,000 people, featuring speeches from the dean of the Jesuit Church, Karl Jung, and imam of Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque Mustafa Aydinli.

[36][37] On June 5, local AfD council candidate politician Heinrich Koch was hospitalized with non-serious injuries after a stabbing in Mannheim.

[41] Despite several other events having been held there since the attack, this was denied by the city, which claimed that from 4 until 16 June, only individual mourning was allowed there, as declared on a sign.

[44] German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X that the footage was "terrible", that such acts of violence were "absolutely unacceptable", and that "[t]he perpetrator must be severely punished".

[47] Green Party politician Konstantin von Notz and FDP vice-chairman Konstantin Kuhle both condemned anyone who glorified the act of violence, with the latter stating that anyone who publicly celebrated the stabbing should face immediate and severe criminal proceedings, and that Muslim associations needed to make clear statements denouncing the use and glorification of violence to prevent future attacks.

A German government spokesperson said the same day that "intensive efforts" had been made since the Mannheim stabbing in order to deport migrants who have committed serious crimes back to Afghanistan and Syria.

[48] Earlier after the stabbing, chancellor Scholz had announced that deportations to those two countries would be possible again in the case of the most dangerous criminals and terror suspects.