At least 2 people died and 60 were injured after a car crashed into a Christmas market in Germany
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A car plowed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday night, killing at least two people and injuring dozens more in an incident that local officials said know what they believe was a deliberate attack.
Saxony-Anhalt state Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff said police had arrested a man of Saudi Arabian origin in connection with the incident, which he said claimed two lives and injured at least 60 people. , some are seriously ill.
Haseloff said the suspect had lived in Germany since 2006 and worked as a doctor in Magdeburg and appeared to act alone.
He described the incident as “a terrible tragedy and a disaster for the city, for the state.” [of Saxony-Anhalt] and for Germany as a whole.”
“It really is one of the worst things you can imagine in the context of what a Christmas market must be like.”
Witnesses told German broadcaster MDR that the car plowed into people in the Old Market in downtown Magdeburg, not far from the Gothic cathedral.
Footage broadcast later showed dozens of groups of people tending to the injured under Christmas stalls decorated with baubles and festive lights. Dozens of ambulances and medical staff were at the scene.
A spokesman for the Saxony-Anhalt regional government told news agency dpa that it “could have been an attack”.
Prime Minister Olaf Scholz said reports coming from Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 on the Elbe River, looked grim.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” he said. “We stand with them and with the people of Magdeburg. I would like to thank the dedicated rescue workers during these anxious hours.”
The front-runner in Germany’s upcoming elections in February, Christian Democratic Party leader Friedrich Merz, said: “This is very sad news from Magdeburg. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I thank all the emergency services who are caring for the injured at the scene.”
The incident occurred nearly eight years since 12 people were killed and 49 injured in 2016, when a 24-year-old Tunisian failed asylum-seeker drove into a Christmas market in Berlin. The 13th victim of the attack, for which the jihadist group Isis claimed responsibility, died in 2021.
German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently called for caution when visiting Christmas markets. Speaking at the end of November, she said there was no concrete evidence of an immediate threat, but she added: “Given the high threat level in summary, we still have reason to be extremely vigilant and act consistently for your own security. .”
The incident happened when Germany was preparing for the incident early election in Februaryin which the issues of migration, law and order are clearly shown. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is currently in second place.
The party won a historic first place in regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia earlier this year and came second in two other neighboring regions.
The vote took place immediately afterward terrorist attack in August in the town of Solingen, when a Syrian citizen suspected of being a member of Isis stabbed three people to death and injured eight others.
The incident has been seized on by the AfD as well as the far-left Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) Union, both of which say uncontrolled immigration has led to a rise in violent crime on German streets.
AfD leader and candidate for prime minister, Alice Weidel, said the images published from Magdeburg were “shocking”, adding: “When will this madness end?”
