The attack happened during a festival in the city centre on Friday evening. The attacker is reported to be still at large.

Bild website says a man randomly stabbed passers-by. A huge manhunt is now under way, with police helicopters seen hovering above the city.

The industrial city was celebrating 650 years since it was founded.

The city authorities asked people to leave the Fronhof market area, as police set up security cordons, following the attack at about 22:00 local time (21:00 BST).

Emergency crews at the scene were seen treating the injured, media reports said.

Police later deployed 40 tactical vehicles in the hunt for the stabbing suspect, according to Bild.

The vehicles are being commanded by SEK (Special Task Force) officers.

Roads have been blocked, and residents asked to stay indoors as officers carry out their search.

Philipp Müller, one of the festival organisers, said the emergency crews were fighting for the lives of nine people, the Solinger Tageblatt newspaper reports.

“People are shocked, but left the square peacefully,” Mr Müller said.

Eyewitness Lars Breitzke told the newspaper that he knew something was wrong when he saw a singer on stage with a strange expression on their face.

“And then a person fell over just a metre away from me,” he said.

The attacker is believed to have deliberately stabbed his victims in the neck, German media report.

Police spokesman Alexander Kresta was quoted by Spiegel website as saying “we are currently assuming that it was one person” after talking to numerous eyewitnesses.

In a Facebook statement, Solingen Mayor Tim Kurzbach said: “Tonight all of us in Solingen are in shock, horror and great sadness. We all wanted to celebrate our city anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured.

“It breaks my heart that an attack has happened in our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we’ve lost. I pray for all those still fighting for their lives. Also my greatest sympathy for all those who had to experience this, these images must have been horrific.”

Speaking to the BBC later on Friday, Solinger Tageblatt’s deputy editor Björn Boch said the celebrations had been “supposed to last for three days, and the city expected 25,000 people every night.

“The city was just packed with people,” he said, estimating that “a few thousands people” were at Friday’s free event.

The celebrations have now been cancelled.

Solingen – a city in North Rhineland-Westphalia famous for its steel industry – has about 160,000 inhabitants. It lies about 15 miles (25 km) east of Düsseldorf and north-east of Cologne.

Credit: The BBC

Organized by ‘Bonofie’, a Ghanaian registered non-governmental organisation, which is projecting the economic prospects of the Bono regions and also promoting young talents in entertainment, arts and culture, the event will be a mega one this year.

Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang-Badu II, the Paramount Chief of Dormaa Traditional Area and President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs chaired the launching ceremony – where those who spoke at the event included: Pimapim Yaw Kagbrese V and Oseadeeyo Akumfi Ameyaw IV, the Paramount Chiefs of Yeji and Techiman Traditional Areas respectively.

Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene and Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan, the Regional Ministers for Bono and Bono East also addressed the Bono people at the launch.

Nana Asante Krobea Kaakyire, the Public Relations Officer of ‘Bonofie’ also said the event would be the first of its kind, saying it would be celebrated annually to identify and mobilize human and financial resources to contribute towards the rounded development of the Bono regions.

He said nation building should not be a burden that rests only on government shoulders, but a shared responsibility, therefore, the festival would bring together stakeholders of diverse backgrounds to give ideas and inputs to accelerate development of the two regions.

Giving a lineup of activities that will take place in the week of the festival week, it included a street carnival, market day, traditional rites and history day, health screening.

Others are theatre, beauty pageants, music festivals among other traditional rites that will cement the one-week event.

The festival is scheduled to come off on June 25, 2022 to July 3, 2022 in Sunyani.

Meanwhile, Julius Yaw Quansah, a member of the organizing team told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Sunyani that the event partners are the Centre for National Culture, the House of Chiefs and the Regional Coordinating Councils of the two regions, Bowia Dance Ensembles, Kings Agency, Krado Arts Emporium and Fayaweks.

Mr. Quansah explained the festival aims at highlighting the socio-economic prospects and opportunities in the Bono and Bono East regions to attract investors.

Mr. Gary Cooper Fia-Kojo Ayivi, a Community Developer and a Consultant to the festival, added that bringing citizens together to help in developmental project in their region was in the right direction.

“We are in a situation, where the government cannot provide all the social amenities to its citizens, so the responsibility now is on the chiefs and their people to lead that agenda. Hence, it is a time for us to revive our community spirit towards such projects,”he said.

Through ‘Meko Bono’ and Festival, the indigenes of the Bono and Ahafo Regions, both home and abroad, will come together to mark the historic event.

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This is because the women of Fetteh have served notice that only men with flat tummies will be entertained at the 2019 Atopa Dance, a dance regarded as the most exciting moment of the Ahobaakese festival.

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Watch video of last year’s Atupa Dance below:

Speaking in an interview with Adom News during the launch of the 2019 Atopa Dance Festival, the women explained men with potbellies are heavily hindered by their bellies in doing the popular dance.

“…men with potbellies can hardly twist their waists the way they may want to, compared to their flat-tummy counterparts,” one of the women claimed.

“We have prepared our waists and dance moves for the slim and energetic men because fat men with pot bellies cannot shake us well due to their body size so we want the slim men to come and shake us well during the Atopa dance,” another woman added.

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Gomoa Fetteh is a fishing and farming community in the Gomoa East District where indigenes celebrate Ahobaakese Festival from the 23rd of August to 2nd September every year with the controversial Atopa dance festival being a high point of the celebrations.

Source: Adomonline.com|Adom News|Kofi Adjei

OFF Festival, Poland

A small festival in Katowice in south-west Poland, OFF has, over the past 10 years, built an international audience thanks to a challenging and intriguing mix of acts. This year’s selection emphasises female artists: singer-songwriters Feist and PJ Harvey headline, while Swedish art pop singer Anna von Hausswolff and classical composer turned electronic producer Anna Meredith are also on the bill. Meanwhile, the experimental poetry and performance project by afrofuturist Moor Mother will undoubtedly be an unmissable show.
• 4-6 August, £55, off-festival.pl

Into the Valley: Estonia, Sweden, South Africa

Valley girls (and boys) … the abandoned Rummu quarry in Estonia will become a festival venue in 2017. Photograph: Alamy

Putting location to the fore, Into The Valley launched in 2015 as a discreet electronic music festival held in a stunning limestone quarry in Sweden. The festival is now expanding with incredible ambition, hosting three events at three striking sites. The series will launch at the end of June at a quarry in Rummu, Estonia, with a setting made complete by a derelict prison on a tranquil blue lake, followed by weekends in an abandoned factory in Stora Vika, Sweden and, in January 2018, a festival in South Africa at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town. Among the many acts programmed across these are Answer Code Request, Recondite, Sonja Moonear and Magda. If you like a rawness to your party locations, and a festival that’s driven by the excitement and intrigue of creating something out of nothing, Into the Valley should be on your radar.
• Estonia, 29 June-1 July €150; Sweden, 10-12 August €150; South Africa 26-27 January €69, musicgoesfurther.com

Melt, Germany

What would Melt be without its notorious “sleepless stage” – a non-stop music marathon that runs from Saturday morning to midday on Monday? The epic German festival for those who love an all-hours party takes place in Ferropolis, Gräfenhainichen, a site scattered with huge pieces of industrial machinery, such as old mining cranes, which are the focus of a light show each night. This year, the festival celebrates its 20th anniversary, bringing 20,000 people together for a festival dominated by techno and electronic music (Aurora Halal, Courtesy, Ellen Allien and Sonja Moonear are all on the bill along with Dixon, Tale of Us and Modeselektor), but with a diverse set of headliners such as M.I.A. and the inimitable South African rap-rave crew Die Antwoord. All that plus a party train from Cologne that also serves as your weekend accommodation, a campsite with actual showers and a lake to cool off in during the day make Melt! a worthy summer alternative to a party weekend in Berlin.
• €140, 14-16 July, meltfestival.de

Nuits Sonores, France

Another electronic music festival celebrating a big anniversary is Nuits Sonores, which has its 15th edition this year. Held in 40 locations in Lyon over five days – from heritage sites and landmarks to the kind of industrial locations that were born for high-production dance music events – the festival draws together cutting-edge music while branching into other creative fields, such as design and architecture. This year the festival has a new venue, the vast Fagor-Brandt factory, which can hold up to 14,000 revellers, and boasts a lineup including a day programmed by The Black Madonna featuring Honey Dijon, the legendary Derrick Carter and one of the most influential underground punk outfits around, Bronx party starters ESG. The rest of the lineup is enviable, featuring everyone from the Chemical Brothers to Syrian wedding singer Omar Souleyman.
• €140 four night and three day pass, 23-28 May, nuits-sonores.com

Primavera Sound, Portugal and Spain

Peaches

Peaches performs during the second day of Primavera Sound 2016. Photograph: Xavi Torrent/WireImage

A festival that has rapidly grown to attract visitors from across Europe with its blend of striking electronic music, guitar-led acts and plenty of sunshine, Primavera Sound takes place in Barcelona and, since 2012, also in Porto, under the name NOS Primavera Sound. Headliners across both cities include US soft-core rockers Grandaddy along with indie-electronic bands Metronomy and The xx as well as rave legend Aphex Twin. The Barcelona edition takes place across six days with an abundance of DJs on call to keep people dancing, while the smaller, three-day Porto festival has Bicep, Nicholas Jaar and Richie Hawtin, who will be doing a closing – no doubt epic – set on the Friday night. Both take place in urban sites, so they’re easy to combine with a longer break to the cities. For something smaller, keep an eye out for brand new festival Waking Life, a boutique lakeside get-together with a great lineup of underground DJs (Resom, Aurora Halal, DJ Nobu to name a few),held near the medieval town of Crato, Portugal.
• Barcelona 31 May-4 June, €195; Porto 8-10 June, €110, primaverasound.com

Lowlands, the Netherlands

Online music magazine the Line of Best Fit, said of last year’s Lowlands festival: “The atmosphere is spot on: no lads, no kids, no trouble, no problem.” Sounds good, huh? In 2017 the Dutch music event of the year celebrates 25 years of responsible revelry and a relaxed soft-drugs policy, bringing 55,000 people together for three days of visual art, music, film and “performance” events. In a similar vein to Glastonbury, the festival conceives itself as a micro-city, with its own radio station, newspaper and currency. The lineup has broad appeal, with Alt-J, The xx and Iggy Pop headlining along with DJs including Ben Klock, Nina Kraviz and Robert Hood.
• 18-20 August, €185, lowlands.nl

Meakusma, Belgium

Though it’s one of the more niche festivals on the list, this is worth a mention as it describes itself as “three days celebrating the unclassifiable through music, installations and lectures”. Now in its second year, Meakusma’s lineup features artists, musicians and performers associated with forward thinking and experimental sounds. Names on the bill include Ben UFO – a DJ renowned for his expansive tastes – composer and sound artist David Toop and avant garde producer Lucrecia Dalt. Those after a Belgian festival with a more accessible sound should check out Paradise City in late June, which brings John Talabot, Kornel Kovacs and Âme to a lush site beside Ribaucourt castle.

• 8-10 September, from €50, meakusma-festival.be

UVA Festival, Spain

Countryside view from the bridge, Puente Nuevo, in Ronda, Spain. Photograph: Alamy

While Sonar and Primavera Sound are undoubtedly the main events on Spain’s festival calendar, one new, absolutely tiny Spanish festival to catch our eye is UVA, thanks mainly to its incredible location. It’s held in a 12th-century monastery on a cliff in the town of Ronda, overlooking the Andalucían countryside. The boutique event (capacity 500) run by Moody Collective, has a lineup featuring Rush Hour’s Antal, deep psychedelic producer Baris K and a smattering of names that will appeal to those who respect a discerning crate digger, such as Brilliant Corners’ Donna Leake and Deborah Ipekel from Sounds of the Universe.
• 2-4 June, from €100, on Facebook

Outlook, Croatia

Photograph: PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images

The musical bone-shaker of Croatia is all grown up: 10 years after planting massive sound systems on the Dalmatian coast and blasting dubstep at full volume, Outlook has come of age with a bill that shows how the festival has matured. Headliners at the student-heavy festival include major players on the grime scene such as Wiley and Bugzy Malone, bass-heads such as the Bug and Digital Mystikz, mixed up with the likes of underground hip-hop and R&B phenomenon Princess Nokia. It’s held in an abandoned fort in Pula, so expect serious sunsets, plenty of hype and drop, after drop, after drop.
• 7-10 September, from £141, outlookfestival.com

Flow Festival, Finland

Photograph: Gaelle Beri/Redferns

Born out of a small club event over a decade ago, Flow Festival now draws around 75,000 people to the area around a power plant in Helsinki, which is transformed into a beautifully illuminated setting for music and visual arts. This year’s lineup includes Frank Ocean, Moderat and London Grammar, but food takes centre stage too: more than 40 high-profile restaurants are to be part of the event, with an emphasis on sustainable, locally produced food, including plenty of vegan cuisine. This all helps Flow remain a carbon-neutral festival – and it was one of the first in the world to achieve this.
• 11-13 August, from €99, flowfestival.com

source:  The Guardian