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MAGDEBURG, Germany.- Germany was still in shock on Saturday and I couldn’t understand the reasons behind the attack with an SUV car at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg that left five dead and more than 200 injured, while the details of the alleged aggressor began to be known, which respond to a complex profile that had raised alarms.
The man arrested for the attack is a 50-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia who lived in Germany for decades with a permit permanent residence. The news fueled debates about uncontrolled immigration that have divided Germany in recent years and while The country is heading for early elections in February, with a growth of the extreme right, a space with which the alleged aggressor sympathized.
A man driving a black BMW SUV at high speed – larger than a car and smaller than a truck – ran over people massively. who was enjoying the Magdeburg Christmas market on Friday night.
The balance of victims of what the authorities consider a deliberate attack went up this Saturday to five dead and more than 200 injured, reported the head of the regional government of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff. Among the five dead there are a little boy
“We have lost five lives. And there are more than 200 injured, many of them serious and very serious. This is a dimension that none of us can imagine,” declared Haseloff at an event with the head of the German government, Olaf Scholz this Saturday.
A row of large concrete blocks painted red and green marked the entrance to the Christmas market, which was set up in narrow streets with wooden stalls decorated with lights and selling mulled wine, sausages and gifts. The attacker appears have taken advantage of a gap on the tram track to access and run over the crowd.
Magdeburg was part of communist East Germany and the annual market is set up in the center of the city, on the old market square in front of the Town Hall.
“It is not one hundred percent possible to protect these types of events,” said Andreas Rosskopf, head of the federal police union.
Taleb A., a 50-year-old psychiatrist and psychotherapist, was identified by local media and authorities said he has two decades living in Germany. He was arrested at the scene.
It is about a doctor residing in the town of Bernburg, born in Saudi Arabia and living in Germany since 2006. The man is known as activist critical of Islam and defined himself as “ex-Muslim.”
Taleb’s X account is full of tweets and retweets focused on anti-Islamic themes and criticism of religion, while sharing congratulations to Muslims who left the faith. He was critical of the German authorities and said that They had not done enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”
The investigation still did not determine the suspect’s motivations, that he never expressed favorable opinions towards jihadist organizations and did declare himself supporter of the far-right and anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Taleb was described by some as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their home country. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been persecuting Saudi asylum seekers.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so as far as we know there is no more danger for the city”Governor Haseloff told reporters.
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker after he posted extremist views on his personal X account that threatened peace and security. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
The German newspaper HE DOES IT He said he interviewed the suspect in 2019 and described him as an anti-Islam activist. “People like me, who have an Islamic background but are no longer believers, do not encounter the understanding or tolerance of Muslims here,” he said. “I am the most aggressive critic in the history of Islam. If you don’t believe me, ask the Arabs.”
Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann published in X that he had not yet encountered a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile. “After 25 years in this ‘business’, you think that nothing can surprise you anymore. But a 50 year old ex-Saudi Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists, that wasn’t really on my radar”, he noted.
The violence shocked the country and several German cities canceled their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and in solidarity with the Magdeburg tragedy. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence there.
The attack occurs In the midst of an intense debate about security and migration during a campaign in Germany, following the call for early elections after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in Parliament.
“It is important that let’s stay united as a country and that we talk among ourselves,” said the chancellor at the scene of the tragedy. The chancellor promised act against “those who want to sow hatred”, after the attack this Christmas season that is reminiscent of the 2016 jihadist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.
Scholz described today as “terrible and insane act” the attack and stressed that there is no place more peaceful and joyful than a Christmas market. “What a terrible act it is to hurt and kill so many people there with such brutality,” he said.
Scholz’s Social Democrats are trailing the far-right AfD and the leading conservative opposition in opinion polls ahead of snap elections scheduled for February 23.
The AfD, which enjoys particularly strong support in the former East, has led calls for a crackdown on immigration to the country.
His chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, and co-leader Tino Chrupalla issued a statement on Saturday condemning the attack. “The terrible attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market in the middle of the quiet pre-Christmas period has shaken us”they said.
A leading Social Democratic lawmaker in the German parliament warned against jumping to conclusions and said it appeared the attacker did not have an Islamist motive. “Now we have to wait for the investigations. It seems that things are different here than initially assumed”said Dirk Wiese.
After the attack, dozens of people They lit candles and placed flowers in front of a church near the market. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir, whose members witnessed the 2016 Christmas market attack, sang “Amazing Grace,” a hymn about God’s mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
Andrea Reis, who had been at the market on Friday, returned on Saturday with her daughter Julia to put a candle next to the church. He said if it hadn’t been for a few moments, they could have been in the path of the vehicle of horror. “I said, ‘let’s go buy a sausage,’ but my daughter said, ‘no, let’s keep walking.’ If we had stayed where we were, we would have been in the car’s path“, said.
Tears streamed down her face as she described the scene. “The children were screaming, crying for their mothers. “You can’t forget that.” said.
A couple who were at the market during the attack told a German television station that a black vehicle suddenly turned into a crowded alley and It traveled about 365 meters before stopping, according to the authorities. “Everything happened very quickly,” said the couple.
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 inhabitants west of Berlin, which serves as the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. Friday’s attack occurred eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck towards a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, where killing 13 people and wounding many others. The attacker died days later in a shooting in Italy.
Besides, Knives were banned from Christmas markets across the country this year, after a gunman killed three people at a street festival in August.
Christmas markets are a German festive tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Agencies AP, AFP and Reuters
