A car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeb" />

Car drives into crowd at Christmas market in Germany, driver arrested

20 December, 2024 | Filed under: All News,more news,RECENT POSTS | Posted by:

A car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring 50, according to the city’s deputy mayor. The suspected driver was arrested, according to local media.

Emergency services arrive at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, December 20, 2024.
Emergency services arrive at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany,
December 20, 2024. © Dörthe Hein, AP

A car barrelled through a Christmas market crowd in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring 50, according to the city’s deputy mayor, in what regional authorities were treating as a suspected attack.

The driver of the car was arrested, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act.

NTV television showed multiple ambulances and fire engines at the chaotic site with injured people being rushed off to hospitals and others being treated as they lay on the ground.

Cries and screams could be heard as police, medics and the fire service deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.

“We presume it was an attack,” said a spokeswoman for the interior ministry of Saxony-Anhalt state.

The sounds of sirens from first responders clashed with the market’s holiday decorations, including ornaments, stars and leafy garland festooning the vendors’ booths.

Debris could be seen on the ground in footage of a cordoned-off part of the market.

‘Thoughts’ with victims, says Scholz

News weekly Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said that a black BMW had barrelled through the crowd at high speed just after 7:00 pm local time (1800 GMT) when the market was filled with revellers.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that “the reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears”.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

The bloody carnage recalled a 2016 jihadist attack in which a Tunisian man driving a lorry killed 12 people in a Christmas market in Berlin.

A 13th victim died later having suffered serious injuries in the assault, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has recently called on people to be vigilant at Christmas markets although she said authorities had not received any specific threats.

Domestic security service the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned it considers Christmas markets to be an “ideologically suitable target for Islamist-motivated people”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

Source:france.com