Two dead, including a toddler, and scores more injured after a 50 year old man drove a rented vehicle into the crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.
I saw video of the incident earlier and it’s amazing more people didn’t die. That car was going very fast and just plowed through the crowd.
The footage is scary. The guy just plowed right through a street filled with people. It certainly looked intentional.
From a news organization in Germany:
Death toll now up to 5. Seriously injured at 40 and total injured about 200. The car apparently travelled 1/4 mile through the market.
I’m confused. A man from Saudi Arabia is Islamophobic and runs down a crowd at a Christmas market?
Apparently.
"In a now deleted feed on X apparently belonging to Taleb A., he made anti-Islam statements and self-identified as a Saudi dissident. He spoke openly about renouncing his Islamic faith, expressed sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and accused Germany of promoting the Islamization of the country.
…
Saudi authorities had previously warned their German counterparts about the suspected attacker on three occasions, a source with knowledge of the communications told CNN.
The first warning came in 2007 and was connected to concerns held by Saudi authorities that Taleb A. had expressed radical views of varying kinds, the source said.
Saudi Arabia considers the suspect a fugitive and requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008, the source said, adding that German authorities refused, citing concerns for the man’s safety should he return."
https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2024/12/21/europe/suspect-germany-christmas-market-attack
At one of the Christmas markets we went to either in Germany or Salzburg, we noticed metal pilons coming from the ground that prevented access by car. They can be raised and lowered as needed. I remember wondering if this was an anti terrorist measure and was quite frankly glad to see them.
Horrible. 
One local city uses city-owned heavy machinery to block off access to the central way during parades. I wonder if something similar could have been used. It is not just terrorists… a confused senior citizen or a malfunctioning car could cause a lot of damage in such crowded areas.
A report I saw said that the man drove carefully through the emergency entrance & then accelerated.
Reports said the suspect was a DOCTOR in Germany. Just awful what people will do to innocent bystanders.
I read he was a psychiatrist. And he identified with the AfD (German’s ultra right wing party) but now the AfD is using him to further their cause to stop immigration and worse, deport people of non German blood.
My wife heard or read that those barriers (called bollards, I believe, you see stationary ones in front of big-box stores in US), but the guy used an access area left open for deliveries.
Thanks-I knew I wasn’t using the correct term, but couldn’t think of an alternative.
We went to a good number of Christmas markets in Germany, but I only remember noticing those at one market. Could have been more, but I don’t remember.
I would bet next year, most markets will have devised ways to provide more security from people with an evil agenda. But nothing will ever be 100% foolproof imo.
I’ve read that German authorities have received warnings for over a year about this man’s express intentions of committing a mass attack, based upon his internet postings on X, and simply hit a brick wall - no one would pay any attention.
I find it interesting that media outlets are now backing away from calling this incident what it is - terrorism - now that the suspect has been revealed as an anti-Islam, anti-immigration, pro-Israel supporter of the AfD. (As if the terror is less terrifying when it comes from the far right?).
We did a trip to Germany last year right before the markets opened and when first opening.
During the day, there are tons of deliveries in front of stores, truck setting up the market stalls. I don’t know how the streets could be completely closed. It’s not like the US where there are alleys or parking lots behind the stores. Deliveries seemed to be right in the street.
It’s very sad.
Ok, the info that suspect was a psychiatrist makes more sense than if he was someone who had to mend the physical carnage than he caused.
Or different varieties of far right? (Al Qaeda and similar are far right, even though they oppose and are opposed by other far right groups and often each other.)
Mending the ongoing psychological carnage is just as challenging…and important.
It seems he wanted to draw attention to the dangers that immigrants posed to german society.