Germans began Saturday (December 21, 2024) mourning another violent attack and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor drove a black BMW into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers on Friday (December 20, 2024) evening, killing at least two people, including a small child, and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.
Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old who has been living in Germany for nearly two decades and practicing medicine there. He was arrested Friday (December 20, 2024) evening at the site of the attack as medical officials tended to the injured, and was taken into custody for questioning.
But on Saturday (December 21, 2024) there were still no answers as to what caused the man to drive into a crowd in the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg.
The violence shocked the country and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser were due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday (December 21, 2024), and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives,” Mr. Scholz wrote on X. “We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s (December 20, 2024) attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths couldn’t be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Hours after Friday’s (December 20, 2024) tragedy, the wail of sirens clashed with the market’s festive ornaments, stars and leafy garlands.
Published – December 21, 2024 01:32 pm IST
