A man has been charged with driving a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany, killing five people and wounding more than 200He has been arrested on several counts of murder and attempted murder.
The Magdeburg police department said in a statement on Sunday that the man had filed a pretrial release on five counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
Those killed are a nine-year-old boy and four women aged 52, 45, 75 and 67, said the police. Among the injured, about 40 had serious or serious injuries.
Authorities said the assailant used an emergency exit to get to the Christmas market, where he ran into the crowd, killing more than 200 people in three minutes. He was arrested on the spot.
Stopping conflicts
Friday evening's attack in the central city of Magdeburg shocked the German nation and sparked a major debate over immigration.
The suspect, identified as Taleb A, is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islam, who has lived in Germany for nearly two decades.
The motive for the attack is still unknown, but the Magdeburg prosecutor, Horst Nopens, said on Saturday that one factor could be what he called the suspect's frustration with Germany's treatment of Saudi refugees.
The suspect made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of confrontations with authorities, prompting German media to question whether the government could have done more to stop the attack.
The Der Spiegel newspaper, citing security, said the Saudi secret service warned Germany's spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Taleb threatened that Germany would pay a “price” for helping Saudi refugees.
And in August he wrote on social media: “Is there a way to get justice in Germany without blowing up the German embassy or killing German citizens at random?… If anyone knows, please let me know.”
The Die Welt daily reported, citing security sources, that German police and the government carried out a “threat assessment” on Taleb last year but concluded that there was “no problem”.
Strengthening the right side
Police reported chaos and “minor disturbances” at a far-right demonstration in Magdeburg on Saturday night, which was attended by around 2,100 people.
Protesters, some wearing black scarves, held a large sign reading “emigration”, a term used by far-right activists advocating the deportation of immigrants and non-Germans.
The event comes before a a very important decision in Germany on February 23, which led to criticism from the right and left parties against the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The leader of the German parliament (AfD) Bernd Baumann asked Scholz to call a special session of the Bundestag on the issue of the “absurd” security, saying that “this is a minority that owes to the victims.”
Meanwhile, the leader of the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that interior minister Nancy Faeser explain “why so many instructions and warnings have already been ignored”.
Scholz has criticized the “horrific, insane”, calling for national unity.
Earlier, the suspect claimed to support AfD's social media X and US billionaire Elon Musk, who has supported AfD. The party has a strong base in East Germany, where Magdeburg is located. Its members, including chancellor representative Alice Weidel, planned a meeting in Magdeburg on Monday evening.