Giant Christmas tree, rides, ice rinks, nothing was missing for the party to be successful and full, four days before Christmas, in the early hours of the school holidays. Everything changed at 7 p.m. this Friday evening, when a powerful black vehicle crossed the grounds of the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, slaloming through the aisles “for more than 400 m”, according to the police. Five people were fatally injured, including a young child. More than 200 people were injured, around 40 of them very seriously.
The mayor of Magdeburg, Simone Borris, burst into tears in front of the press: “I could never have imagined that the city would be affected by such an event.”
“I hope that after the mourning phase, we will manage to find a collective life again, that we will not lose the joy of living, that it will simply be possible to continue to enjoy life,” he said. she added.
A memorial service will be held in the main church of this town of 250,000 inhabitants, located on the territory of the former communist GDR.
The city center square hosting the celebrations will be transformed into a place of meditation, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected this Saturday. The first bouquets of flowers were left by anonymous people, local media report.
The suspect was arrested shortly after his deadly chase. He is a 50-year-old doctor of Saudi origin. He works in the region. “He is a lone wolf,” said the region's minister-president Reiner Haseloff from Magdeburg. “All the facts will be studied closely throughout the night so as not to omit anything. For other analyses, we will have to wait for them to reach us throughout the night. »
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