Christmas market attack – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net Stay Connected. Stay Informed. Sun, 22 Dec 2024 01:36:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://artifexnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-Artifex-Round-32x32.png Christmas market attack – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net 32 32 First Grief, Then A Political Tone Over Germany’s Christmas Market Attack https://artifexnews.net/first-grief-then-a-political-tone-over-germanys-christmas-market-attack-7304965/ Sun, 22 Dec 2024 01:36:26 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/first-grief-then-a-political-tone-over-germanys-christmas-market-attack-7304965/ Read More “First Grief, Then A Political Tone Over Germany’s Christmas Market Attack” »

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Magdeburg:

A spontaneous memorial created by grieving families and local residents at a church overlooking Magdeburg’s Christmas market evolved during Saturday into something more politically charged.

The changing tone at the site of a car-ramming attack on Friday in which five people were killed and more than 200 injured reflected political tensions in a country racked by arguments over immigration and over the surging popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Authorities arrested a Saudi man with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric but said the motives for the attack were not yet known.

At first, as people laid flowers outside the church in the early morning, there were just expressions of sorrow and grief.

Andrea Reis, 57, arrived with her daughter Julia, 34, and reflected on a narrow escape.

It was only because her daughter wanted them to keep walking round the market rather than stop to eat that they were not in the path of the car that ploughed through the market, she said.

“It was the terrible sounds, children calling ‘mama, papa,’, ‘help me’ – they’re going round in my head now,” Reis said, a tear trickling down her cheek.

Another young woman sobbed, bent double with grief as an older couple embraced her.

Initially, the attack drew comparisons on social media to an Islamist-influenced immigrant’s deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016.

Later it emerged that the 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”.

As the day passed, politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, came to lay flowers at the spontaneous memorial.

By the time Tino Chrupalla, the AfD’s co-leader, came, the crowd was filled with young people who had responded from all round east Germany to calls by the party’s youth wing on social media to attend a vigil.

The party, particularly strong in eastern Germany, came first or second in three regional votes this autumn, and hopes for more success in a national election in February.

Many of the gathered supporters wore symbols associated with neopaganism and other mystical movements associated with the far right.

One young man, who said he was from the AfD’s youth wing, wore an amulet depicting the hammer of the Norse god Thor.

“I’m a believer in the old gods,” he said, declining to give his name.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed concern that the attack could be exploited by the far right, but said little could be done to prevent seemingly coordinated gatherings.

“We have freedom of assembly in this country,” she said, touring the scene of the attack. “We have to do everything possible to make sure the attack isn’t misused by either side.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)




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7 Indians Injured In Christmas Market Attack In Germany: Sources https://artifexnews.net/senseless-horrific-centre-condemns-germany-attack-says-indians-injured-7303506/ Sat, 21 Dec 2024 17:48:48 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/senseless-horrific-centre-condemns-germany-attack-says-indians-injured-7303506/ Read More “7 Indians Injured In Christmas Market Attack In Germany: Sources” »

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New Delhi:

Seven Indians were injured in the Christmas market attack in Germany, sources said today. Three of them have been discharged from hospital, they said, adding the Indian Embassy is in touch with all the injured Indians.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said India condemns the “horrific and senseless attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.”

“Several precious lives have been lost and many have been injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims. Our Mission is in contact with Indians who are injured, as well as their families, and rendering all possible assistance,” the MEA said.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “terrible, insane” attack that killed five people and shocked the nation, days before Christmas and eight years after a jihadist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin.

The suspect, a Saudi, in the deadly car-ramming attack held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany’s migrant policy, news agency AFP reported on Saturday.

The accused, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, drove an SUV at high speed through a dense crowd on Friday, also injuring 205 people in the eastern city of Magdeburg. The mass carnage sparked sorrow and revulsion, with a nine-year-old child among the dead and casualties being treated in 15 regional hospitals.

A self-described “Saudi atheist” who as an activist who helped women flee the oil-rich kingdom, he has railed against Islam but also against what he saw as Germany’s permissive attitude towards refugees from other mainly Muslim countries.

Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said he held “Islamophobic” views, and a prosecutor said that “the background to the crime… could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany”.

Taha Al-Hajji of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights told AFP Abdulmohsen was “a psychologically disturbed person with an exaggerated sense of self-importance”.

Surveillance video footage of the attack showed a black BMW racing straight through the crowd, scattering bodies amid the festive stalls that were selling traditional handicrafts, snacks and mulled wine.

On Saturday, debris and discarded medical materials blew across the cordoned-off site, where stalls now stand empty around a giant Christmas tree, the event cancelled for the year out of respect for the victims.

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, which has focused on jihadist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, 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 AFP. “I think that since (the suspect) is a foreigner, the population will be unhappy, less welcoming.”

With inputs from AFP




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7 Indians Injured In Christmas Market Attack In Germany: Sources https://artifexnews.net/senseless-horrific-centre-condemns-germany-attack-says-indians-injured-7303506rand29/ Sat, 21 Dec 2024 17:48:48 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/senseless-horrific-centre-condemns-germany-attack-says-indians-injured-7303506rand29/ Read More “7 Indians Injured In Christmas Market Attack In Germany: Sources” »

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New Delhi:

Seven Indians were injured in the Christmas market attack in Germany, sources said today. Three of them have been discharged from hospital, they said, adding the Indian Embassy is in touch with all the injured Indians.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said India condemns the “horrific and senseless attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.”

“Several precious lives have been lost and many have been injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims. Our Mission is in contact with Indians who are injured, as well as their families, and rendering all possible assistance,” the MEA said.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “terrible, insane” attack that killed five people and shocked the nation, days before Christmas and eight years after a jihadist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin.

The suspect, a Saudi, in the deadly car-ramming attack held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany’s migrant policy, news agency AFP reported on Saturday.

The accused, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, drove an SUV at high speed through a dense crowd on Friday, also injuring 205 people in the eastern city of Magdeburg. The mass carnage sparked sorrow and revulsion, with a nine-year-old child among the dead and casualties being treated in 15 regional hospitals.

A self-described “Saudi atheist” who as an activist who helped women flee the oil-rich kingdom, he has railed against Islam but also against what he saw as Germany’s permissive attitude towards refugees from other mainly Muslim countries.

Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said he held “Islamophobic” views, and a prosecutor said that “the background to the crime… could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany”.

Taha Al-Hajji of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights told AFP Abdulmohsen was “a psychologically disturbed person with an exaggerated sense of self-importance”.

Surveillance video footage of the attack showed a black BMW racing straight through the crowd, scattering bodies amid the festive stalls that were selling traditional handicrafts, snacks and mulled wine.

On Saturday, debris and discarded medical materials blew across the cordoned-off site, where stalls now stand empty around a giant Christmas tree, the event cancelled for the year out of respect for the victims.

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, which has focused on jihadist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, 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 AFP. “I think that since (the suspect) is a foreigner, the population will be unhappy, less welcoming.”

With inputs from AFP




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Saudi Suspect In German Christmas Market Attack Held Strongly Anti-Islam Views: Report https://artifexnews.net/what-was-christmas-market-attack-suspects-possible-motive-officer-says-7302914/ Sat, 21 Dec 2024 15:58:03 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/what-was-christmas-market-attack-suspects-possible-motive-officer-says-7302914/ Read More “Saudi Suspect In German Christmas Market Attack Held Strongly Anti-Islam Views: Report” »

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Magdeburg, Germany:

The Saudi suspect in Germany’s deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany’s migrant policy, official said Saturday.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “terrible, insane” attack that killed five people and shocked the nation, days before Christmas and eight years after a jihadist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin. 

Police were puzzling over the motive of Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the top suspect after an SUV ploughed at high speed through a dense crowd Friday, also injuring 205 people in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

The mass carnage sparked sorrow and revulsion, with a nine-year-old child among the dead and casualties being treated in 15 regional hospitals.

Germany has been hit by multiple deadly jihadist attacks, but evidence gathered by investigators and his past online posts painted a different picture of Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old doctor of psychiatry.

A self-described “Saudi atheist” who as an activist helped women flee the oil-rich kingdom, he has railed against Islam but also against what he saw as Germany’s permissive attitude towards refugees from other mainly Muslim countries.

Interior Minister Nancy Fraser said he held “Islamophobic” views, and a prosecutor said that “the background to the crime… could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany”.

Taha Al-Hajji of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights told AFP Abdulmohsen was “a psychologically disturbed person with an exaggerated sense of self-importance”. 

Call for unity

Abdulmohsen in his online posts spoke about his troubles with and suspicions of German authorities.

Last August, he posted on social media: “Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens? … If anyone knows it, please let me know.”

Die Welt daily reported, citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a “risk assessment” on him last year but concluded that he posed “no specific danger”. 

A sombre Scholz, dressed in black, visited the attack site Saturday together with national and regional politicians laying flowers outside the main church in Magdeburg.

Mourning and bereaved residents have left candles, flowers, cards and children’s toys at the Johanneskirche church, where a memorial service was planned at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT).

Scholz pledged the state would respond “with the full force of the law” to the attack but also called for unity as Germany has been rocked by a heated debate on immigration and security ahead of elections in February.

The centre-left chancellor said it was important “that we stick together, that we link arms, that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence but the fact that we are a community that seeks a common future.”

He said he was grateful for expressions of “solidarity… from many, many countries around the world. It is good to hear that we as Germans are not alone in the face of this terrible catastrophe.”

‘Sad and shocked’

Surveillance video footage of the attack showed a black BMW racing straight through the crowd, scattering bodies amid the festive stalls that were selling traditional handicrafts, snacks and mulled wine.

On Saturday, debris and discarded medical materials blew across the cordoned-off site, where stalls now stand empty around a giant Christmas tree, the event cancelled for the year out of respect for the victims.

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, which has focused on jihadist attacks in its campaign against immigrants, 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 AFP.

“I think that since (the suspect) is a foreigner, the population will be unhappy, less welcoming.”

Michael Raarig, 67 and an engineer, said that “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.

Security was stepped up Saturday at Christmas markets elsewhere in Germany with more police seen in Hamburg, Leipzig and other cities.

German footballers were holding a minute’s silence and wearing black armbands in weekend matches in tribute to the victims.

The regional Evangelical church announced that at 7:03 p.m. (1803 GMT) “the time of yesterday’s attack on the Christmas market, the bells of all churches in Magdeburg and many places of worship in the surrounding area will ring”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)




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