Start of Magdeburg Christmas market: grief for deadly victims!

Start of Magdeburg Christmas market: grief for deadly victims!

In a shocking incident on Friday evening, the Christmas market in Magdeburg became the scene of a fateful assassination when a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia raced into a crowd with a rental car. At least five people were killed in this cruel attack, including a 9-year-old boy from the Upper Palatinate, and over 200 more injured, many of them seriously. The alleged perpetrator, who had lived in Germany since 2006 and worked as a doctor, was immediately arrested and is in custody. Initial investigations indicate that his motivation may be related to dissatisfaction with the dealings with refugees in Germany, as

The scope of this crime has made both the local and national politics on alert. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff visited the crime scene and expressed their deep met. "What a terrible act is that," said Scholz, while emphasizing the brutality of the situation, in which in a place that normally symbolizes joy and peace, so many people were harmed. Haseloff added that this terrible record "none of us could imagine" and promised that the incident had to be extensively informed. Zudem kündigte der Deutsche Schaustellerbund eine Gedenkminute auf allen Weihnachtsmärkten an, um der Opfer zu gedenken, wie tz.de berichtete.

The police identified the suspect as radical Islam critics who had previously said in an interview due to its extreme views that Germany was not doing enough against Islamism. In addition, a German minister informed that Saudi Arabia had warned the German authorities about the man's extremist attitudes. The investigation is still underway, whereby the background and more precise motives of the attacker must be examined further. In the meantime, a comprehensive security check from Christmas markets in Germany is expected to prevent similar incidents.