Several injured after car drives into Munich crowd in suspected attack
In December, six people were killed in an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg and last month a toddler and adult were killed in a knife attack in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Immigrants have been arrested over both attacks.
Conservative Friedrich Merz, frontrunner to be Germany’s next chancellor, said safety would be his top priority.
The incident comes a day before the start of the Munich Security Conference, which draws scores of foreign government officials to the city.Credit: AP
“We will enforce law and order. Everyone must feel safe in our country again. Something has to change in Germany,” Merz posted on X.
Merz has accused Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz of being soft on immigration and last month, he even broke a taboo by winning a parliamentary vote on asylum with the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Migration dominates campaign
The AfD, in second place in polls, also seized on the incident, with co-leader Alice Weidel focusing on the driver being an Afghan asylum seeker.
“Should this go on forever? Migration turnaround now!” she posted on social media platform X.
Scholz said the perpetrator could not hope for leniency. “He must be punished and he must leave the country,” said Scholz.
About four hours after the incident, the street where it took place was strewn with items of clothing and bags, a broken pram, a shoe and a pair of glasses.
Police set up a gathering point for witnesses in the Loewenbraeukeller, one of Munich’s oldest beer halls.
Loading
A passer-by said he witnessed the incident from a window of a neighbouring office building. The car, a white Mini Cooper, had threaded its way between the police vehicles and then accelerated, he said.
Another witness said she had seen part of the incident from a building. The car had accelerated and hit several people in the crowd, she said.
People in the crowd had been taking part in a strike held by the Verdi public sector workers’ union whose leader, Frank Werneke, expressed shock but said he had no further details. Bavaria’s interior minister said he did not suspect there was a connection to the Munich Security Conference, which starts on Friday.
