Scholz calls for severe punishment after Solingen attack

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for the perpetrator of the Solingen knife attack to be severely punished, while pledging assistance to the city in western Germany.

"We cannot accept something like this in our society and will never grow accustomed to it. We have to act with the full rigour of the law," Scholz said during an event in Stahnsdorf in Brandenburg near Berlin.

Describing the attack as a "terrible crime," Scholz called for the law to be implemented in full.

"We will also assist the city and its people with everything at our disposal," he said. "We are anxiously hoping that the lives of those injured will be saved, and stand with the relatives of the injured and deceased and with the entire city," he said.