Police probe security and warnings

German authorities are facing questions about security and what they know about a man accused of using emergency vehicles to enter a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring more than 200.

During a visit on Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, ministers and political leaders in the region were met with disgust, some apparently angry at what they criticized as a lack of security.

German authorities have defended market regulation and security.

Authorities are also asking questions after reports were raised last year a suspectwhere police say they assessed whether the suspect might be dangerous a year ago.

The suspect said he was ordered to be held in prison pending trial for murder, attempted murder and accidental injury.

Usually at this time of year, German cities are filled with shoppers and partygoers drinking vinegar, but this year the mood is very different.

The main Christmas market has been cordoned off and cordoned off by police cars as armed police patrol nearby shops and stores.

There is sadness in the air in Magdeburg, as well as bewilderment and anger, as people ask how this could have happened.

When Scholz and his friends came out of the closed market on their Saturday visit, they were met with insults and shouts of “hau ab”, a more aggressive version of “we lost”.

Some people seem angry because of the security failure. Others seemed angry and very angry with the German political leaders.

Security has been increased at Christmas markets in Germany since a similar attack in Berlin in 2016 when a man drove a lorry into a crowd of people at the market, killing 12 people.

Open-air Christmas markets now have barriers around them – usually large concrete blocks, which is the case in Magdeburg.

However, the gap in the barriers was large enough to allow emergency vehicles to pass through.

City manager Ronni Krug told reporters at a press conference Saturday that emergency responders need an emergency escape route for “emergencies,” and all relevant agencies have approved the plan.

“The concept of safety and security must, on the one hand, protect those who are visiting the event as much as possible, but must also ensure that, at the same time, if something happens, they can leave the site safely and quickly”, he said.

“Maybe it’s something that couldn’t be avoided”, he added.

German media reported that prior to the attack, there were warnings about the threat posed by the suspect.

The suspect, a Saudi Arabian doctor named Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.

An atheist, he ran a website aimed at helping other Muslims who were fleeing persecution in the Gulf. His social media was full of anti-Islamic sentiments and conspiracy theories.

At a press conference on Saturday, Magdeburg police chief, Tom-Oliver Langhans, said that the police had assessed whether the suspect could be in danger, “but this discussion took place one year ago”.

He added that the investigation into the suspect’s background is ongoing and declined to comment further.

One of the informants is believed to have come from Saudi Arabia, the suspect’s home country.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that it had sent four reports known as “Notes Verbal” to German officials, warning them of what they said were “dangerous ideas” carried out by al-Abdulmohsen.

However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may be launching a campaign against a man who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.

On Saturday, Langhans said he had no information when asked about Saudi Arabia issuing warnings.

Later, the head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, told the ZDF reporter that his office received information from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said that the local police had carried out the necessary investigations, but the matter was not mentioned.

He added that the suspect “is in contact with various authorities, insulting and threatening them, but is not known to be violent”.

Previous research should be revisited, Münch said.

The suspect’s social media accounts are under intense scrutiny as investigators build their case against him.

He was a prominent figure for anti-Islamic sentiments and conspiracy theories on X, and had made threats in the past.

The German ambassador to the UK said X owner Elon Musk had questions to answer as to why his platform did not take action against al-Abdulmohsen.

“We have seen that the person who carried out this terrible attack was very active, threatening X. The question is, ‘is X really going to do these things?’,” diplomat Miguel Berger told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House program on Sunday.

“We have a Digital Safety Act in the European Union that requires media to take action […]. It didn’t happen,” he said.

Musk’s story called for Scholz’s resignation, and he posted several accounts criticizing the German government for failing to act on the suspect’s threats.

The BBC has contacted X for comment.

Musk’s criticism of the German authorities extends beyond the Magdeburg attack. The morning before the attack, he wrote to support the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party.

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” he said.

The leader of the party, Alice Weidel, thanked Musk for his “post” and said “An alternative Germany is the only option for our country; our last option,” in a post rewritten by Musk.

Asked by the BBC to comment on Musk telling Germans how to vote, Berger said: “I think that Elon Musk – before giving unnecessary advice to German citizens – should look at the responsibility of his platform”.