Two dead, 60 injured after car plows into crowd at German Christmas market – National

A car plowed into a busy Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 60 in what authorities called a deliberate attack.

The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the car entered the market around 7:00 p.m., where it was packed with holiday shoppers heading into the weekend.

Authenticated bystander footage released by German news agency dpa shows the arrest of the suspect in the middle of the street. A nearby police officer pointed a gun at the man and yelled at him as he lay awake. Other police officers soon arrived to arrest the man.

The two people confirmed to have died were an adult and a toddler, but officials said that the death of people could not be avoided because 15 were seriously injured.

The violence shocked the city, brought its mayor to the brink of tears and ruined an event that is part of centuries-old German tradition.

The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006, said Tamara Zieschang, the interior minister of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, at a press conference. He had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg, he said.

“As things stand, he is the only criminal, so as far as we know there is no more danger in the city,” the governor of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, told the media. “Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life is too many.”

The violence took place in Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 people west of Berlin that serves as the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. Friday's attack came eight years after a Muslim extremist drove a truck into a busy Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Christmas markets are a big part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition that has been valued since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to many Western countries. In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets that opened late last month brought the smell of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Other markets are spread throughout the country.

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German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of danger at Christmas markets this year, but said it was wise to be cautious.

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Germany urges citizens to visit Christmas markets despite heightened security

Within hours of Friday's tragedy, the sound of the siren clashed with the market's festive decorations, stars and leafy decorations.

Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The cacophony was so loud “you had to think something bad had happened.”

He called the attack a “dark day” for the city.

“We're shaking,” Steffen said. “We are full of sympathy for the relatives, and we hope that nothing happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”

The attack backfired far from Magdeburg, where Haseloff called it a disaster for the city, the country and the country. He said flags will be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government plans to do the same.

“It's one of the worst things one can imagine, especially in terms of what the Christmas market has to offer,” the governor said.

Chancellor OIaf Scholz wrote to X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand by them and by the people of Magdeburg.”

Magdeburg Mayor Simone Borris, who was in tears, said officials were planning to organize a memorial to be held in the city's church on Saturday.

After Friday evening's soccer match between Bayern Munich and Leipzig, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen asked fans in the club's stadium to observe a moment of silence.

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