A car crashed into a Christmas market on Friday, December 20, in the German city of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt), killing at least two people and injuring around sixty people, the city's town hall reported. Among them are around ten people “seriously injured”, the others having suffered serious injuries qualified as “averages” Or “light”said the town hall.
A suspect was arrested near the market, police announced. The car that drove into the crowd “at least 400 meters through the Christmas market” is still on site, added a spokesperson for the Magdeburg police. “We think it was an attack”a spokesperson for the interior ministry of the regional state of Saxony-Anhalt told Agence France-Presse. The head of the regional government, Reiner Haseloff, gave details of the identity of the suspect. “This is a man from Saudi Arabia who works as a doctor here”in the Saxony-Anhalt region, said Mr. Haseloff, adding that he had “acted alone”.
Images posted on social media show many people lying on the ground. A large police force was deployed on site. “Large police operations are currently taking place at the Magdeburg Christmas market. The downtown Christmas market is closed »wrote the local police on the social network
On the same network, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wrote that “the information coming from Magdeburg portends the worst.” Friedrich Merz, candidate for chancellor for the conservatives in the legislative elections of February 23, 2025, also reacted on the same social network: “My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. I thank all the intervention forces who take care of the injured on site. » French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his ” horror “. “Deeply shocked by the horror that hits the Magdeburg Christmas market this evening in Germany (…). France shares the pain of the German people and expresses its full solidarity”he wrote on X.
Germany experienced a bloody ram truck attack on a Christmas market in December 2016, claimed by the Islamic State group, which left 12 dead in the center of Berlin and more than 60 injured.
Source: Lemonde