The stabbing in the German city of Aschaffenburg shocked many people and triggered a political debate in Germany. Conservative election frontrunner Friedrich Merz said he'll "permanently put controls on all German borders.

Germany's opposition leader vowed Thursday to bar people from entering the country without proper papers and to step up deportations if he is elected chancellor next month, as a knife attack by a rejected asylum-seeker spilled over into an election campaign in which he is the front-runner.