Magdeburg, Germany: Sympathizer of the ultra-right AfD who shared conspiracy theories and disinformation online has murdered five people and injured 200 at a Christmas market

A remembrance site has been created in the city and a memorial service was planned for Saturday evening. Many politicians from all over the world have expressed solidarity with Germany.

Cities all over the country are tightening their security measures at Christmas markets. Accompanied by the Prime Minister of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, Scholz toured the closed Christmas market just before noon on Saturday.

On Friday, the driver of a vehicle ran people over at high speed in the Magdeburg Christmas market. The vehicle traveled at least 400 meters into the crowd.

The motive of this crime is not yet clear. Police arrested the driver shortly thereafter.

The suspect is a 50-year-old physician originally from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany since 2006 and has worked as a psychiatrist since 2020 in the clinic of a prison in the town of Berburg, south of Magdeburg and also in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. He has been working with drug-addicted convicts.

“It is a terrible crime to injure and kill so many people with so much brutality,” Scholz said in his short speech in Magdeburg. He expressed the entire country’s solidarity with the bereaved, the injured and those residing in the city and thanked the security forces and first responders who intervened.

Schulz also promised the crime will be thoroughly investigated. The Chancellor said he believes it is necessary to precisely understand the motivations of the perpetrator and to respond with “the full force of the law”.

A follower of right-wing extremists committed these murders

For the time being, the motive of the crime is unclear. It was originally theorized that the driver of the vehicle could be a radicalized Islamist, but according to the German media, his social media posts have been quite critical of Islam – he feared the Islamization of Germany and even wanted to collaborate with the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) on projects for people renouncing Islam.

Authorities have identified the suspect as Taleb A. German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the motivation for this crime remains unclear.

According to Faeser, the only thing that can be confirmed about the suspect is that he is Islamophobic. Such persons have an irrational or unhealthy fear of, hatred for, or prejudice toward Islam.

As Czech news server iDNES.cz reports, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) is referring to German security circles, which have said the suspect was not known to German authorities as an Islamist. On the contrary, his social media statements show he was distinctly critical of Islam.

According to research by public broadcaster WDR, Taleb A. repeatedly warned against the Islamization of Germany and considered the AfD the only force capable of combating it. In June, for example, he shared posts by the chair of the AfD, Alice Weidel, and other right-wing content.

Examples of such content were a faked photo of former Chancellor Angela Merkel holding a sign reading “I destroyed Europe” or videos in which French right-wing extremists call for “Islam out of Europe”. Taleb A. also shared opinions similar to those promoted by conspiracy theorists and controversial figures like the American podcaster Alex Jones or British activist Tommy Robinson, and he allegedly also admires businessman Elon Musk.

Olaf Scholz: We must not allow ourselves to be consumed by hatred

Speaking in Magdeburg, Scholz also appealed to German society not to allow itself to be consumed by hatred. He said he believes what is important now is for people to stick together.

Three ministers visited Magdeburg along with Scholz, as did the chair of Germany’s strongest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, who is running against Scholz in the elections to the Federal Parliament in February 2025. It is assumed the attack in Magdeburg will also influence the election campaign.

A memorial service was scheduled to be held in St. John’s Church near the crime scene on the evening of the 21st. A remembrance site has sprung up outside the doors to the church where people are bringing flowers, lighting candles, and leaving stuffed toys to honor the memory of the victims.

The authorities announced that one young child is among the dead. Chancellor Schulz laid a white rose at the church doors today as well.

Faeser has ordered black mourning flags to be flown at federal offices countrywide. Germany received condolences after the attack from many politicians worldwide including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala condemned the Magdeburg tragedy on Friday as a brutal terrorist attack. German authorities, however, are not yet using the term “terrorist” when describing the event.

The attack was also condemned by Saudi Arabia, which told the German media that it had warned German authorities about the attacker. German police have tightened security measures at Christmas markets in other German cities as well in response to the attack.

More police officers will be deployed to the streets of Berlin and several other cities in Saxony-Anhalt. The interior ministers of Bavaria and Saxony, whose Christmas markets are visited by many people who travel there from the Czech Republic, said security at the markets is their priority.

Friday’s attack transpired one day after the eighth anniversary of the terrorist assassination at a Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz in the western part of Berlin, costing the lives of 13 victims including a Czech woman, Naďa Čižmárová. That terrorist drove a truck between the market stalls.

The Breitscheidplatz attack also injured 70 people. Police later shot the assassin dead in Italy.