One dead and dozens injured after a car stormed a Christmas market in Germany

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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 wounding dozens in what local officials said they suspected was a deliberate attack.

The city’s mayor, Regina-Dolores Stiller-Hines, said that one person was killed in the accident that occurred in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, and more than 50 people were injured.

Eyewitnesses told German radio MDR that the car drove straight into a crowd of people.

Police arrested a person in connection with the incident – which occurred in the Old Market area in the city centre, not far from the Gothic cathedral – according to the German News Agency (DPA).

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

State Prime Minister Rainer Haselof said: “This is a terrible event, especially now in the days before Christmas.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said reports from Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 located on the Elbe River, looked bad.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” he said. “We stand with them and the people of Magdeburg. I thank the dedicated rescue workers in these difficult hours.

Friedrich Merz, the front-runner in Germany’s upcoming elections in February, said: “This is very disappointing news from Magdeburg. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I thank all the emergency services caring for the injured at the site.”

This incident comes almost eight years after 12 people were killed and 49 others injured in 2016, when a 24-year-old Tunisian man whose asylum application was rejected stormed a Christmas market in Berlin. The thirteenth victim of the attack, for which the terrorist organization ISIS claimed responsibility, died in 2021.

German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Weisser recently called for caution when visiting Christmas markets. Speaking at the end of November, she said there was no concrete evidence of an immediate threat, but added: “Given the high level of threat in theory, we still have reason to be very vigilant and act coherently for our security.” “.

The incident comes at a time when Germany is preparing Early elections in Februarywhere immigration and law and order are set to feature strongly. The far-right Alternative for Germany party currently ranks second in opinion polls.

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

The voting process took place shortly after A August terrorist attack In the town of Solingen, when a Syrian citizen suspected of being an ISIS member stabbed three people and injured eight others.

The AfD and the far-left Sahra-Wagenknecht coalition party seized on the incident, saying that uncontrolled immigration had led to an increase in violent crime on German streets.

The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and its candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, said that the images that emerged from Magdeburg were “shocking,” and added: “When will this madness end?”