Five people have been killed and more than 200 injured after a man allegedly rammed the car he was driving into crowds at a Christmas market in the east German city of Magdeburg on Friday.
Four women aged 45, 52, 67, and 75, as well as a nine-year-old boy, were killed.
The suspect in the deadly attack has been charged with five counts of murder, as well as several counts of attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The mass carnage on Friday night (local time) has sparked sorrow and revulsion in Germany. Visiting the scene of the attack on Saturday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the incident a “terrible, insane act”.
“There is no place more peaceful and joyful than a Christmas market,” Scholz said.
“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”
“We have now learnt that over 200 people have been injured,” he added. “Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
How did the incident unfold?
The eastern city of Magdeburg is located about 130km southwest of Berlin. People had gathered at the markets to celebrate in the days leading up to Christmas.
The director of the Magdeburg police department, Tom-Oliver Langhans, said the suspect used an escape and rescue route to reach the Christmas market, with the whole incident lasting about three minutes.
The emergency route was not protected by barriers, and the route had been designed to allow rescue services to access the market square in the event of an emergency, said city official Ronni Krug.
Surveillance video footage of the attack showed a black BMW racing straight through the crowd just after 7pm local time (5am Saturday AEDT), knocking people to the ground amid the festive stalls.
Police made one arrest after the vehicle drove “at least 400 metres across the Christmas market”, leaving behind a trail of bloodied bodies at the city’s central town hall square.
A police officer working at the scene of the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg. Source: AAP / Heiko Rebsch/DPA
Local television showed ambulances and fire engines at the chaotic site, which was doused in blue light with sirens wailing, as badly injured people were being rushed off to hospitals and others were treated as they lay on the ground.
Cries and screams could be heard as dozens of police, medics and the fire service deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.
Local television showed ambulances and fire engines at the chaotic site, with badly injured people rushed off to hospitals and others treated as they lay on the ground. Source: Getty / Craig Stennett
What is known about the suspect?
The suspect is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who has been in Germany since 2006, who has been identified in German media as Taleb A.
The man lived in Bernburg, some 40km south of Magdeburg, and had “a permanent residence permit”. Police searched his home overnight.
He had worked as a psychiatrist at a specialist rehabilitation clinic for criminals with addiction in Bernburg since March 2020.
The suspect, who has described himself as a “Saudi atheist”, held strongly anti-Islam views.
“At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic — we can confirm that,” Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser told reporters on Saturday. “Everything else is a matter for further investigation, and we have to wait.”
There are mounting questions about whether the deadly attack could have been prevented after it emerged that various authorities across the country had received warnings and tip-offs about the alleged perpetrator.
Taleb A had come to the attention of authorities in various cities over the past decade. In 2013, a court in the city of Rostock fined him for disturbing the peace.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, said his agency had received a tip-off from Saudi Arabia in November 2023 that led officers to investigate the accused attacker.
In an interview with public broadcaster ZDF, Münch said “appropriate investigative measures” had been taken, but that the warnings were unspecific.
“He had also had various contacts with authorities, made insults and even threats. But he was not known for violent acts,” Münch said.
Police will review whether any mistakes were made in the way the investigation was handled.
Saudi Arabian security sources said they had warned Germany about the suspected attacker and had requested the extradition of the suspect, but Germany had not responded.
The suspect appeared in a number of media interviews in 2019, reporting on his activist work helping Saudi Arabians who had turned their back on Islam to flee to Europe. He is a fierce critic of Islam in these interviews.
The suspect’s account on X, verified by Reuters, indicated support for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), as well as for US billionaire Elon Musk, who has criticised German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and expressed support for the AfD.
Prior to the attack, Musk said only AfD could “save Germany”. He called for Scholz to resign following the attack.
How have world leaders reacted?
“Horrific news from the Magdeburg Christmas market in Germany,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote on X on Saturday morning.
“My thoughts and those of all Australians are with the victims and their loved ones.”
People have laid flowers and candles in front of the Johannis church close to the Christmas market. Source: AAP, AP / Michael Probst
US President Joe Biden called it a “despicable and dark event”.
“The United States extends our deepest condolences to the people of Germany grieving the terrible attack,” Biden said in a statement. “No community — and no family — should have to endure such a despicable and dark event, especially just days before a holiday of joy and peace.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “profoundly shocked” by the attack and that he “shares the pain of the German people”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also said she was “deeply shocked by the brutal attack on the defenceless crowd”, adding: “Violence must have no place in our democracies.”
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said he was “shocked” by the “terrible attack”.
Germans gather to pay tribute to victims
On Saturday, debris and discarded medical materials blew across the cordoned-off site, where stalls now stand empty around a giant Christmas tree, the event cancelled for the year out of respect for the victims.
Security was stepped up Saturday at Christmas markets elsewhere in Germany with more police seen in Hamburg, Leipzig and other cities.
The Christmas market was empty on Saturday evening following the attack, with debris strewn across the cordoned-off site. Source: AAP, AP / Michael Probst
Relatives of the victims, emergency responders and invited guests, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Scholz, attended a private memorial service in the city’s cathedral on Saturday evening.
During the memorial service, some 1,000 people gathered outside the cathedral to watch the commemoration on a large screen, lay flowers and light candles. The bells of the church rang exactly 24 hours after the attack.
Scholz pledged the state would respond “with the full force of the law” to the attack but also called for unity as Germany has been rocked by a heated debate on immigration and security ahead of elections in February.
Olaf Scholz has called for unity following the attack. Source: AAP, DPA / Sebastian Kahnert
Attack comes ahead of German election
Germany is expected to vote in an early election on 23 February after Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed in November in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy.
Scholz is hoping to win a second term, but polls have shown the main opposition centre-right Union bloc in the lead and the chancellor’s centre-left Social Democrats trailing well behind.
The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with her party.
