What do we all know in regards to the assault on the German Christmas market and its impression

4 girls and a nine-year-old boy had been killed and 200 folks injured when a Saudi physician reportedly entered a crowded Christmas market within the German metropolis of Magdeburg on Friday night.

Listed here are the important thing particulars of what’s identified in regards to the assault, what German authorities knew in regards to the suspect and what the incident may imply for the nation’s elections early subsequent 12 months.

– How did the assault happen?

Witness Thi Linh Chi Nguyen initially thought the loud bangs had been fireworks. The 34-year-old Vietnamese nail technician, whose salon is near the Christmas market, was on the cellphone throughout a break when she heard a noise shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday.

Then she noticed a automobile dashing by means of the market. Folks screamed and a baby was thrown into the air by the automobile.

The lady remembers seeing the automobile go away the market, flip proper onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee, then cease at a tram cease the place the suspect was arrested.

The market is now empty and cordoned off by police, with armed officers deployed round it.

Close by, a whole lot of individuals stopped to gentle candles or lay flowers at a rising makeshift memorial.

– Who’re the victims?

Police confirmed the victims had been 4 girls, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a nine-year-old boy.

One other 200 folks had been injured, together with 41 believed to be in critical situation. They’re being handled in a number of hospitals in Magdeburg, about 130 kilometers west of Berlin, and past.

– Who’s the suspect?

Prosecutors stated the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi physician, was being investigated on suspicion of homicide, tried homicide and battery.

Throughout a closed listening to on Saturday night, a decide ordered him to stay in detention pending doable indictment.

A number of German media shops recognized him solely as Taleb A, refusing to reveal his final title in accordance with German privateness legal guidelines.

They report that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy and had lived in Germany since 2006, working towards drugs in Bernburg, about 40 km south of Magdeburg.

The suspect’s account on social networking website X describes him as a former Muslim. It’s full of tweets and retweets specializing in anti-Islam themes and criticism of the faith, whereas sharing notes of congratulations to Muslims who’ve deserted the religion.

He criticized the German authorities, saying they’d not finished sufficient to combat towards the “Islamization of Europe”. He additionally expressed assist for the anti-immigration Different for Germany (AfD) celebration.

Some have described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi girls flee their nation. Not too long ago, he has appeared centered on his principle that German authorities are focusing on Saudi asylum seekers.

– What was the motive?

Investigators are analyzing the suspect’s computer systems, cell units and different proof, making an attempt to grasp what motivated him to drive his black BMW into the gang.

Prosecutors stated the motive could possibly be “dissatisfaction with the remedy of Saudi refugees in Germany.”

Questions stay unanswered about what authorities knew in regards to the suspect. The pinnacle of the Federal Legal Police Workplace, Holger Munch, stated the company obtained a warning from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, however the data turned out to be very imprecise.

Germany’s Federal Workplace for Migration and Refugees additionally acknowledged receiving a warning in regards to the suspect final 12 months.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces criticism over safety lapses that enabled the assault and was heckled by some passers-by throughout a go to to Magdeburg on Saturday.

– What has been the impression of the assault to this point?

The violence shocked all of Germany, prompting a number of different cities to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and in solidarity with the lack of Magdeburg. Berlin saved its markets open however elevated the police presence.

Germany has suffered a number of extremist assaults in recent times, together with a knife assault that killed three folks and injured eight others at a competition in Solingen, within the west of the nation, in August.

Friday’s assault got here eight years after an Islamist extremist rammed a truck right into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 folks and injuring many others.

These assaults have led cities to extend safety at Christmas markets and different occasions.

The horror unleashed by a brand new act of mass violence in Germany means that migration will stay a key concern forward of the snap elections on February 23.

It’s the newest in a collection of incidents around the globe through which autos have been used as weapons by jihadist attackers, far-right extremists and others whose motivations stay unclear.