Officially, this event is forbidden due to security concerns. The City declares it will fence the Thingstätte and prosecute any trespassers. In 2022, a mass shooting occurred in the university, killing a woman and injuring three other people. The gunman then committed suicide. Population The population of the city of Heidelberg exceeded 100,000 for the first time in 1946. It is a city with an international population, including one of the largest American communities outside North America, but this is not analysed in the Heidelberg population statistics. At the end of December 2011, the city had 149,633 inhabitants with an official primary residence in Heidelberg (not including the soldiers and employees of the U.S. Army and their dependents, a total of about 20,000 people), a historic high. The following table shows the number of inhabitants within the boundaries of the city at the time. To 1833 they are mostly estimates, then census results or official updates of the statistical offices of the time or the city administration. The data refer from 1843 to the "local population", from 1925 to the resident population and since 1987 the "population at the site of their main dwelling." Prior to 1843 the population was determined by non-uniform collection procedures. ¹ Census results With a fertility rate of 1.1 children per woman in the Stadtkreis (county), Heidelberg had the lowest fertility rate in Baden-Württemberg in 2008. Politics Since 2006, the Oberbürgermeister (lord mayor) of Heidelberg has been the independent Eckart Würzner. From 1990 to 2006, the mayor was Beate Weber (SPD). The council consists of 48 volunteer members with the mayor as chairman. The council is directly elected for a term of five years. The task of the council is to decide all the affairs of the city, with the mayor presiding. The council controls the city administration and oversees the enforcement of its decisions. Heidelberg has always been a stronghold of the Greens. For the municipal elections in 2009, they split into the Green Alternative List and Alliance 90/The Greens and each ran their own lists. Together they gained 10 seats to become the strongest force for the first time. In September 2011, two members of the GAL Group joined the Alliance 90/The Greens, so that together with the members of , they formed the largest group in the council. For elections to the Bundestag, part of the Heidelberg constituency. Cityscape The old town