The far right manifests itself after the attack in Magdeburg

The German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party organized a “memorial” demonstration in Magdeburg on Monday for the victims of the vehicular attack which reignited the debate on security and immigration in the country.

At the same time, the “Gib Hass keine Chance” (“Give Hate No Chance”) movement gathered nearby, at the scene of the carnage that left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and more 200 injured in this town located near Berlin.

“Terror has arrived in our city,” declared Jan Wenzel Schmidt, head of the AfD in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in front of several hundred people. He condemned the “monstrous political failure” which led to the attack, the suspect of which was a Saudi refugee.

“We must close the borders, we can no longer welcome madmen from all countries,” he added, in front of the anti-immigration party activists. Party co-president Alice Weidel called for “change so we can finally live safely again,” as the crowd chanted “expulsion, expulsion, expulsion!”

His party, hostile to migrants, anti-system and pro-Russian, is credited with around 20% of voting intentions in the polls, behind the conservatives (32%) and ahead of the center-left party of Olaf Scholz (15%). But no party wants to cooperate with the AfD.

For its part, the anti-AfD initiative declared “to note with fear and anger that people want to exploit this cruel act for their politics” and called for “tolerance and humanity.

Under pressure, the government of Olaf Scholz promised on Sunday a rapid and thorough investigation to clarify possible errors by the authorities in preventing the attack.

Saudi Arabia had asked Berlin for the extradition of the 50-year-old Saudi, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, after warning several times that he “could be dangerous”, a source close to the government told AFP on Monday in Riyadh.

Living in Germany since 2006, this Saudi psychiatrist had refugee status. In his numerous posts on social media, he had expressed views hostile to Islam, his anger at German immigration officials and his support for far-right conspiracy stories about the “Islamization” of Europe.

Other elements about this man with an atypical profile leaked into the media on Monday: according to the local newspaper “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung”, his colleagues doubted his skills and nicknamed him “Doctor Google”, because he regularly consulted the Internet before 'make a diagnosis. The daily “Die Welt” claimed that he had been treated for mental disorders. “One thing is clear: there will be a before and an after in this electoral campaign,” judged the popular newspaper “Bild”.

The German Criminal Police Association (BDK) warned on Monday against “premature accusations or even the political exploitation of events”, especially at a time when the condition of some victims remains very serious.

The city authorities are also in the crosshairs, with some accusing them of poor security. The alleged perpetrator was able to take an unsecured access route to the Christmas market and then drove into the crowd in a powerful rental BMW vehicle. The municipality of Magdeburg defended itself by explaining that this opening was reserved for ambulances or firefighters in the event of an emergency.

However, the security of the Christmas markets had been considerably reinforced, in particular by the installation of concrete bollards at their entrances, after a similar act committed eight years ago on a Christmas market in Berlin, which left 13 dead.

Germany had also tightened its security policy this year, in particular through reinforced controls on the carrying of weapons, following several deadly knife attacks, one of which left three dead and eight injured during a festival. summer in Solingen.

“A security concept is only as strong as its weakest link,” counterterrorism expert Peter Neumann told the weekly “Der Spiegel.” “If one entry point is not protected, all the other concrete bollards are useless.”