By Thomas Escritt and Rachel Extra
MAGDEBURG, Germany (Reuters) -Authorities investigated a Saudi physician with a historical past of anti-Islam rhetoric because the suspected driver in a car-ramming assault on a Christmas market within the German metropolis of Magdeburg that killed 5 individuals and injured scores.
The Friday night assault on crowds gathered to rejoice the Christmas season may sharpen a fierce debate in Germany over safety and immigration forward of a nationwide election in February, with opinion polls suggesting the far proper will carry out strongly.
Authorities mentioned on Saturday the motive was not clear. Nonetheless, the Magdeburg prosecutor, Horst Nopens, mentioned one doable issue might be what he known as the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s dealing with of Saudi refugees.
The suspect, a 50-year-old psychiatrist who has lived in Germany for nearly 20 years, was arrested on the scene following the three-minute assault within the central metropolis that shocked the nation. Police didn’t title the suspect, recognized by German media solely as Taleb A.
The driving force used emergency exit factors to slowly navigate the automobile in direction of the market, earlier than selecting up pace and ploughing into the gang, a metropolis police official advised reporters.
These killed had been a nine-year-old baby and 4 adults, Magdeburg metropolis official Ronni Krug mentioned, including that some 41 of the injured had both severe or essential accidents.
“I do not learn about you, however I affiliate the Christmas market with mulled wine and bratwurst, and yesterday individuals died on this space. Others are preventing for his or her lives,” Krug mentioned.
Authorities closed the marketplace for the rest of the season.
“What a horrible act it’s to injure and kill so many individuals with such brutality,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned throughout a go to to the town, the place he laid a white rose at a church.
ONLINE POSTS
Posts on the suspect’s X account, verified by Reuters, recommended he supported anti-Islam and far-right events, together with the Various for Germany (AfD), and had criticised Germany for its dealing with of Saudi refugees.
German Inside Minister Nancy Faeser mentioned the suspect’s Islamophobia was clear to see, however she declined to touch upon the motive.
Friedrich Merz, chief of the opposition Christian Democrats and present favorite to succeed Scholz as chancellor, cautioned towards drawing hasty conclusions.
“Yesterday’s horrific act in Magdeburg doesn’t match the acquainted sample,” he mentioned.
Taleb A. appeared in quite a lot of media interviews in 2019, together with with German newspaper FAZ and the BBC, during which he spoke of his work as an activist serving to Saudi Arabians and individuals who had turned away from Islam to flee to Europe.
“There isn’t any good Islam,” he advised FAZ on the time.
A Saudi supply advised Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities concerning the suspect after he posted extremist views on his X account that threatened peace and safety.
A German safety supply mentioned Saudi authorities had despatched a number of ideas in 2023 and 2024 and that these had been handed on to the related safety authorities.
A danger evaluation performed final 12 months by German state and federal prison investigators got here to the conclusion that the person posed “no particular hazard”, the Welt newspaper reported, citing safety sources.
Germany’s home and overseas intelligence companies each declined to touch upon the investigation. The state and federal prison investigation places of work didn’t reply to Reuters’ request for remark.
‘CHILDREN SCREAMING’
Andrea Reis was on the market on Friday and returned on Saturday along with her daughter Julia to put a candle by the church overlooking the location, and mentioned she had narrowly escaped being within the path of the automobile.
Tears ran down her face as she described the scene. “Youngsters screaming, crying for mama. You possibly can’t overlook that,” she mentioned.
Scholz’s Social Democrats are trailing each the far-right AfD and the frontrunner conservative opposition in opinion polls earlier than snap elections set for Feb. 23.
The AfD, which enjoys notably robust assist within the former East, has led requires a crackdown on immigration.
Its chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, and co-leader Tino Chrupalla issued an announcement condemning the assault.
