The deputy mayor of the German city of Magdeburg said Friday that at least one person was killed and dozens injured after a car plowed into a busy Christmas market in what authorities said was an attack.
Regina-Dolores Stieler-Hinz reported that more than 50 people were injured, the German news agency dpa reported.
According to dpa, citing unidentified government officials in Saxony-Anhalt, the driver of the car was arrested.
Regional government spokesman Matthias Schuppe and city spokesman Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act.
“The photos are terrible,” he said. “According to my information, a car hit the Christmas market visitors, but I cannot yet say from what direction and from what distance.”
The University Hospital in Magdeburg said it was caring for 10 to 20 patients, but was preparing for a larger number, dpa reports.
The sounds of emergency sirens clashed with the market's holiday decorations, including ornaments, stars and leaf garlands decorating vendors' stands.
The footage from the fenced off part of the market shows rubble lying on the ground.
“This is a terrible event, especially now, in the run-up to Christmas,” said the governor of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff.
Haseloff told dpa he was on his way to Magdeburg but could not immediately provide any information about casualties or the cause of the incident.
Chancellor OIaf Scholz wrote in X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. We stand next to them and the people of Magdeburg.”
Magdeburg, located west of Berlin, is the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of approximately 240,000.
The suspicious attack occurred eight years after the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On December 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist drove a truck through a crowded Christmas holiday, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed a few days later in a shooting in Italy.
Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cultivated since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to most Western countries.
In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month, bringing the smell of mulled wine, roasted almonds and sausages to the capital. Other markets are available throughout the country.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there is no concrete indication of a threat to Christmas markets this year, but it is wise to remain vigilant.