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A man accused of driving a car into a crowd at a German Christmas market, killing five people and injuring more than 200, has been arrested on multiple charges of murder and attempted murder.
The Magdeburg Police Department said in a statement on Sunday that the man had been issued with a pre-trial detention order on charges of five-count murder, as well as multiple counts of attempted murder and serious bodily injury.
The deceased were a nine-year-old boy and four women aged 52, 45, 75 and 67, according to the police statement. Among the injured, about 40 had serious or critical injuries.
Authorities reported that the alleged attacker used emergency exit routes to access the Christmas market, where he accelerated and plowed into the crowd, striking more than 200 people in a three-minute rampage. He was arrested at the scene.
Latent tensions
The Friday afternoon attack in the central city of Magdeburg shocked Germany and reignited simmering tensions over the issue of migration.
The suspect, identified as Taleb A, is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric, who has resided in Germany for nearly two decades.
The motive for the attack remains unclear, but Magdeburg prosecutor Horst Nopens said Saturday that a possible factor could be what he called the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees.
The alleged attacker had made death threats to German citizens online and had a history of disputes with state authorities, leading German media to question whether the government could have done more to prevent the attack.
The news magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned the German spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Taleb threatened that Germany would pay a “price” for its treatment of the Saudi refugees.
And in August he wrote on social media: “Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly massacring German citizens?… If anyone knows, please let me know.”
Die Welt newspaper reported, also citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a “risk assessment” on Taleb last year, but concluded that he did not pose “any specific danger.”
Emboldening the far right
Police reported skirmishes and “minor disturbances” during a far-right demonstration in Magdeburg on Saturday night, attended by approximately 2,100 people.
The protesters, some wearing black balaclavas, held a large banner reading “remigration,” a term used by far-right supporters who advocate mass deportation of immigrants and individuals considered non-ethnically German.
The incident comes ahead of a crucial election in Germany on February 23, prompting harsh criticism from far-right and far-left parties opposing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.
The president of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Bernd Baumann, demanded that Scholz call a special session of the Bundestag on the “devastating” security situation, arguing that “it is the least we owe to the victims.”
Meanwhile, the leader of the far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explain “why so many advice and warnings were ignored in advance.”
Scholz condemned the “terrible and insane” attack and called for national unity.
In the past, the suspect had expressed his support for the AfD on the social media platform The party has a strong support base in the former East Germany, where Magdeburg is located. Its members, including chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, planned a rally Monday afternoon in Magdeburg.
