A German mayoral candidate has been stabbed in the neck in an open air market, police said.
The arrested suspect told police he was acting out of ethnic intolerance.
He vented to officers his disapproval of the candidate's liberal policies on refugees and criticized those of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to German media reports.
But the election for senior mayor of the city of Cologne, in the country's west, will go forward as planned on Sunday, a day after the stabbing.
And victim Henriette Reker, who is expected to make a full recovery, was still up for election as an independent candidate.
Four other people sustained injuries in the attack, and a 44-year-old male suspect was arrested at the market, police told journalists on Saturday.