The attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, which left at least five dead and more than 200 injured (including more than 40 in serious condition) on Friday December 20, provoked anger in Germany. The police services are singled out. The suspect, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, was known for making threats and violent remarks.
“We don’t understand why they let this happen.”explains a passerby, interviewed on site by France 24. “Pressing questions arise”writes the tabloid Bild in an editorial. On the political level, populist parties have seized the subject. “The incompetence of the administration, which allowed the horror of Magdeburg, leaves us speechless”criticized Alice Weidel, head of the far-right AfD.
“The author's opinions and statements are under investigation, as is information[au sujet du suspect] and the procedures which took place with the authorities and the courts”, assured the Minister of the Interior on Sunday. The 50-year-old Saudi doctor, a refugee in Germany, was “Islamophobic” with regard to her public positions, said Nancy Faeser. Franceinfo details the reasons behind the criticism aimed at the authorities.
A series of online and telephone threats
Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens, quoted by AFP, claims that the car-ramming attack “could have as a background dissatisfaction with the way refugees from Saudi Arabia are treated in Germany.” Messages published by the suspect, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, on X corroborate this lead. In one of them, the fifty-year-old threatened Germany with “prix” to pay for this reason. “Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slitting the throats of German citizens? I have been looking for this peaceful path since January 2019 and have not found it,” he declared again in August on his X account.
The suspect felt persecuted and supported the extreme right. “The German police are the real engine of Islamism in Germany. My experience is seven years of police… using dirty tactics against me and other critics of Islam to destroy our activism anti-Islam”, he wrote in June on. “The left is crazy. We need the AfD [le parti d’extrême droite Alternative pour l’Allemagne] to protect the police from them.” Mina Ahadi, president of the Central Council of Former Muslims in Germany, speaks of a “psychopath adhering to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies”reports AFP.
The doctor had also, in 2013, threatened a medical association in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by telephone, reports The mirror, citing the local Interior Ministry. According to this source, the suspect had threatened to carry out an action which would be publicized abroad, mentioning the attack on the Boston marathon (United States), on April 15, 2013. Searches were carried out at the refugee's home , but no evidence of “real preparations for an attack” has not been spotted, according to the state Interior Ministry. The refugee was fined for “disturbing public order by threatening to commit crimes”, and complained about this judgment. He had insulted judges and threatened to acquire a weapon, specifies The mirror.
Authorities alerted
Holger Münch, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, confirmed to public broadcaster ZDF that its teams had received, at the end of 2023, an alert from Saudi Arabia about Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen. “The police in Saxe-Anhalt [le Land de Magdebourg] carried out the necessary investigative measures”, he defended, while evoking information “too unspecific”. The doctor, he admits, “published a large number of messages on the internet. He also contacted various authorities, uttered insults and even threats.” “Nevertheless, he was not known to have committed acts of violence”. Holger Münch promises checks on possible negligence.
In turn, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) announced on X that it had received an alert in 2023 concerning the same man, via social networks. “This information, like all the others, was taken seriously,” assures the public body, which adds that the whistleblower was redirected to competent authorities, the Bamf not being authorized to carry out investigations.
Separately, the Berlin prosecutor's office told state media RBB that the suspect was recently prosecuted for “misuse of emergency calls”. He went to a police station in the German capital in February to file a complaint, but his comments were confusing and he criticized the work of the police officers. According to the same source, the doctor was due to appear in court on Thursday on this subject. He never appeared.
Questions around market security
Beyond the profile of the suspect, questions are multiplying around the measures taken to secure the Magdeburg Christmas market. How was the attacker able to hit the crowd at such high speed, head on and over 400 meters? According to Ronni Krug, a deputy mayor, “the system had been reinforced” This year.
The police, cited by ZDF, believe that the suspect was able to enter a main aisle of the market via an evacuation and emergency route, a space provided for firefighters in the event of an emergency. According to the town hall, this road did not have a barrier or bollard to limit the passage of vehicles. Ronni Krug stressed that firefighters and emergency services must be able to access this space, and that mobile emergency services are installed there.
“Should we have done something else before?” asked Holger Münch, from the Federal Criminal Police Office, to ZDF. “On the one hand, it’s about preventing such events. It’s also about ensuring that these evacuation and emergency routes are clear,” he defended.
