One dead and dozens injured after car drives into German Christmas market

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A car plowed into a group of people at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more in what local officials said they suspected was a deliberate attack.

The city’s mayor, Regina-Dolores Stiller-Hinz, said one person died and more than 50 were injured in the incident in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Witnesses told German broadcaster MDR that the car drove straight into the crowd.

According to press agency DPA, police arrested a man in connection with the incident — which took place in the Old Market district of the city center, not far from its Gothic cathedral.

A spokesman for the Saxony-Anhalt regional government told the agency it was “probably an attack”.

“This is a terrible event, especially now in the days leading up to Christmas,” state Prime Minister Rainer Hasself said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said reports from Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 on the Elbe River, appeared to be grim.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” he said. “We stand by them and the people of Magdeburg. I thank the dedicated rescue workers at this troubling time.”

Ahead of Germany’s upcoming elections in February, Christian Democratic leader Friedrich Marz said: “This is very disappointing news from Magdeburg. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I thank all the emergency services who attended to the injured on site.”

The incident comes nearly eight years since 12 people were killed and 49 injured in 2016, when a 24-year-old Tunisian failed asylum seeker entered a Christmas market in Berlin. A 13th victim of the attack, which was claimed by the jihadist group Isis, died in 2021.

German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Fesser recently urged caution when visiting Christmas markets. Speaking in late November, he said there was no concrete evidence of an immediate threat, but added: “Given the high level of threat in the abstract, we still have reason to be very vigilant and to work consistently for our security.”

This happened just as Germany was preparing Early elections in FebruaryWhere migration and law and order feature strongly. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is currently in second place.

The party won a historic first place in regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia earlier this year and came second in two neighboring regions.

Shortly after taking the vote a Terrorist attacks in August In the town of Solingen, a Syrian man suspected of being a member of ISIS stabbed three people and wounded eight others.

The incident prompted both the AfD, as well as the far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), to say that uncontrolled immigration has led to an increase in violent crime on German streets.

AfD leader and chancellor candidate, Alice Wiedel, said the images coming out of Magdeburg were “amazing”, adding: “When will this madness end?”