Police investigation teams arrive in the area where a car crashed into a crowd at a Christmas market injuring more than 60 people on December 20, 2024 in Magdeburg, eastern Germany (AFP)
Arab News
December 21, 2024
Saudi authorities had sent several tips in 2023 and 2024
Kingdom also reiterated firm stance against all forms of violence
The Muslim World League similarly condemned the attack
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about a man involved in a car-ramming attack on Friday evening, a Saudi source told Reuters.
A German security source said Saudi authorities had sent several tips in 2023 and 2024 and that these had been passed on to the relevant security authorities.
The attacker, who plowed into a Christmas crowd in the German city of Magdeburg, had posted extremist views on his personal X account that threatened peace and security.
The Kingdom condemned the attack on Saturday, which left at least five people dead and over 200 others injured. The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the incident.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on Saturday, expressed its condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims and to the government, wishing those injured a swift recovery.
Saudi Arabia also reiterated its firm stance against all forms of violence.
The Muslim World League similarly condemned the attack, with the group reaffirming its stance against violence and all forms of terrorism.
In a statement, it also expressed ‘solidarity, heartfelt condolences, and sympathy to the families of the victims and the injured, as well as to the German community.’
German authorities are investigating the 50-year-old attacker who has lived in Germany for almost two decades in connection with the car-ramming.
The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the incident. Police searched his home overnight.
The motive remained unclear and police have not yet named the suspect.
“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in the central city, where he laid a white rose at a church in honor of the victims.
Far-right in Germany goes into damage control mode after car-ramming attack
Officials say the suspect held anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany's migrant and asylum policy.
Reuters
Police officers line up as far-right demonstrators hold a sign and flags during a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market, in Magdeburg / Photo: Reuters
The suspect in Germany's deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany's migrant and asylum policy, officials said, prompting the far-right to go into damage control mode.
Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said on Saturday he held "Islamophobic" views.
Initially, the attack drew comparisons on social media to an immigrant's deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016.
Later, it emerged that the Saudi suspect, a psychiatrist who had lived in Germany for 18 years, had criticised Islam and expressed sympathy for the far right in past social media posts.
This prompted damage control by the far-right.
Martin Sellner, an Austrian popular with Germany's far-right, posted on social media that the suspect's motives "seemed to have been complex", adding that the suspect "hated Islam, but he hated the Germans more".
'Sad and shocked'
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, wrote on X: "When will this madness stop?"
"What happened today affects a lot of people. It affects us a lot," Fael Kelion, a 27-year-old Cameroonian living in the city, told the AFP news agency.
"I think that since (the suspect) is a foreigner, the population will be unhappy, less welcoming."
Michael Raarig, 67 and an engineer, said: "I am sad, I am shocked. I never would have believed this could happen here in an East German provincial town."
He added that he believed the attack "will play into the hands of the AfD", which has had its strongest support in the formerly communist eastern Germany.
The car-ramming attack killed five people and left over 200 injured.
Security was stepped up Saturday at Christmas markets elsewhere in Germany, with more police seen in Hamburg, Leipzig and other cities.
Officials say the suspect held anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany's migrant and asylum policy.
Reuters
Police officers line up as far-right demonstrators hold a sign and flags during a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market, in Magdeburg / Photo: Reuters
The suspect in Germany's deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany's migrant and asylum policy, officials said, prompting the far-right to go into damage control mode.
Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said on Saturday he held "Islamophobic" views.
Initially, the attack drew comparisons on social media to an immigrant's deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016.
Later, it emerged that the Saudi suspect, a psychiatrist who had lived in Germany for 18 years, had criticised Islam and expressed sympathy for the far right in past social media posts.
This prompted damage control by the far-right.
Martin Sellner, an Austrian popular with Germany's far-right, posted on social media that the suspect's motives "seemed to have been complex", adding that the suspect "hated Islam, but he hated the Germans more".
'Sad and shocked'
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, wrote on X: "When will this madness stop?"
"What happened today affects a lot of people. It affects us a lot," Fael Kelion, a 27-year-old Cameroonian living in the city, told the AFP news agency.
"I think that since (the suspect) is a foreigner, the population will be unhappy, less welcoming."
Michael Raarig, 67 and an engineer, said: "I am sad, I am shocked. I never would have believed this could happen here in an East German provincial town."
He added that he believed the attack "will play into the hands of the AfD", which has had its strongest support in the formerly communist eastern Germany.
The car-ramming attack killed five people and left over 200 injured.
Security was stepped up Saturday at Christmas markets elsewhere in Germany, with more police seen in Hamburg, Leipzig and other cities.
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