Migrants in Dresden harass women on the tram, then slash an American man's face open as he tries to intervene

Late Saturday night, a pair of migrants on the Dresden tram (line 7) chose to amuse themselves by harassing two women, when a 21 year-old American man stepped in to stop them. The harassers tussled with and struck the good Samaritan; they left briefly, but one of them returned with a knife and slashed the man’s face open.

This silent video, first published by German social media personality Anabel Schunke, shows the man’s injuries immediately after the attack:

The American was rushed to hospital while his attackers fled. Dresden police managed to arrest one of them not far from the scene, as he was trying to escape on a rented scooter. His name is Majd A.; he is a 21 year-old Syrian who is known to the police for prior offences that include assault, robbery and (naturally) illegally entering the country. Police released him hours later pending their investigation; the state prosecutor’s office pleads that they have “insufficient grounds” to hold him as he merely hit and did not stab the victim. As I write this, the knife-wielding attacker remains at large.

Last night, the victim uploaded a brief video statement to social media, in which he quite understandably deplores Germany’s dismal problems with hostile migrants from the global south, none of whom ever seem to get deported, and vast numbers of whom commit all manner of offences only to be coddled by our lenient criminal justice system:

If you all didn’t think that Europe had an immigration problem, especially Germany, let me drop some knowledge on you. It is 11:57 right now. In three minutes, that man that assaulted that young woman yesterday will be released from custody. He’ll be released from custody because he’s not a citizen of Germany, he’s not a citizen of the EU for that matter, he doesn’t even belong in here. He’s an immigrant, an illegal one, a drug dealer, and very popularly known here, especially by the police. This is not the first time this has happened, it’s not the first time that man had beat up a woman, it’s not the first time that the other guy decided to take a swing in my face with a six-inch blade. If they can do this to the people of Germany, and then just get released twelve hours later, even less at this point, where is the law? Where is the structure? If Germans are held to that law and that structure, but these people could just come in, swing knives, and hurt, abuse, terrorise and oppress citizens of Germany, then what do we do?

Close Trump confidante Richard Grenell responded to this statement by calling on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to “understand that the German people are sick and tired of” our nation’s “weak and woke response” to migrant violence.

Because the victim was an American, this case has made headlines across Anglophone media, but the truth is that this happens all the time now, and many cases as bad as or worse than this one pass with little notice. In 2024, authorities counted an average of 79 knife attacks per day in the Federal Republic. There are dozens if not hundreds of news stories out there, so many I no longer bother to keep track of them. Here’s a report from June about a 39 year-old man who died of knife wounds after getting into a fight with a bunch of Afghans in Berlin. Here’s a report from the beginning of August about a 40 year-old Tunisian migrant who stole a knife from a butcher shop in Wuppertal and used it to menace passers-by until police shot him. Here’s a report from July about the Syrian who injured four people on the Intercity Express from Straubing to Plattling with an axe. And here’s a report that made the news just today about a knife fight among Afghans in Berlin that left six injured. These stories are relentless.