what we know about the possible “attack” on a Christmas market

Regional authorities suspect “an attack” after a car drove into a crowd at the Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in Germany this Friday, December 20.

The festivities descend into horror. A vehicle drove into a Christmas market this Friday, December 20, in the town of Magdeburg, in northern Germany, German media and local police report. While several images are circulating on social networks, a new report shows several deaths and dozens of injuries.

• A car drives into a crowd at a Christmas market

A vehicle crashed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, this Friday evening. The city is located in the north of the country, west of Berlin. Regional authorities suspect “an attack”.

The car drove into the crowd “for at least 400 meters through the Christmas market”, said a spokesperson for the Magdeburg police.

The attack comes eight years after a similar act committed at a Christmas market in Berlin, while Germany, in the middle of an electoral campaign, is on alert against the risk of attacks.

Christmas markets are an “ideologically appropriate target for people motivated by Islamism”, German intelligence services warned before the festive period.

• At least two dead and 60 injured

At least two deaths and 60 people were injured according to a new report from the authorities. An initial assessment reported by a spokesperson for the local emergency services stated that between “60 and 80 people” were injured. According to these services, several of the injured were “seriously” following this act involving “a car”.

• The suspect arrested

The police of this city of around 250,000 inhabitants, capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, speak of a “major intervention” underway on the Christmas market, according to a message on X.

The driver of the car which drove into the crowd at this Christmas market was arrested, according to the police. The arrested suspect is 50 years old and of Saudi origin. “We have arrested the perpetrator” of the attack and “he is a man from Saudi Arabia who works as a doctor here” in the Saxony-Anhalt region, said the head of the regional government, Reiner Haseloff, specifying that he had “acted alone”.

“This is a terrible event, in the days before Christmas,” he told public television channel MDR.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fears “the worst”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sends his “thoughts” to the victims and their families, “we are at their side and alongside” the residents of Magdeburg.

“The information coming from Magdeburg suggests the worst,” added the German leader.

The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron said he was “deeply shocked by the horror which struck the Christmas market this evening”. The President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Giorgia Meloni also said she was “deeply shocked” by this “brutal” attack.