Swiss police arrest Australian man over stabbing in Zurich

Published February 23, 2025
A file photo from January 2019 shows the eastern Swiss Alps, Lake Zurich and the city of Zurich in Switzerland. — Reuters
A file photo from January 2019 shows the eastern Swiss Alps, Lake Zurich and the city of Zurich in Switzerland. — Reuters

Swiss police have arrested a 28-year-old Australian man suspected of stabbing and seriously injuring a 41-year-old man in a shop in central Zurich, authorities said.

The motive for Saturday’s attack is still under investigation, police said in a statement. The Australian was arrested at the scene while the victim was taken to hospital.

Police declined to give further details on the identity of the victim and the suspect. Prosecutors could provide more information on Monday, a police spokesperson said.

A number of stabbings have caused alarm in Europe in recent days, with an Algerian man arrested on Saturday in Mulhouse, France over a deadly knife attack, while a Syrian refugee was detained over a stabbing at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial.

On Thursday, a teenage attacker killed two women with a knife in a shopping centre in the Czech city of Hradec Kralove.

Last Saturday, a Syrian asylum seeker was arrested on suspicion of going on a stabbing rampage in southern Austria.

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