Members of the emergency services work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich. Photo / AFP
Members of the emergency services work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich. Photo / AFP
Police arrested Afghan asylum seeker ‘Farhad N’ after a car ramming in Munich injured 28 people.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack, promising severe consequences and emphasising stricter immigration measures.
The incident, with indications of an extremist motive, intensified the immigration debate ahead of February 23 elections.
Police have arrested an Afghan asylum seeker at the scene of what German leaders said was a car-ramming “attack” in which 28 people were wounded, some seriously, in the southern city of Munich.
The carnage came on the eve of a high-profile security conference in the Bavarian city and amid a heated immigration debate ahead of the February 23 federal election following a spate of similar attacks.
The vehicle, a Mini Cooper, barrelled into a demonstration held by trade unionists, leaving a trail of victims and scattering their belongings on the street.
Police at the scene fired a shot at the battered car and detained the driver, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who was identified by German media as Farhad N.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “awful” attack and promised severe consequences.
“From my point of view it is quite clear: this attacker cannot count on any mercy, he must be punished and he must leave the country,” Scholz told reporters.
Members of the emergency services work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich. Photo / AFP
Shoes, glasses and an infant stroller were left littered in the wake of the suspected attack, which follows a deadly car rampage at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg in December.
‘Looked deliberate’
Alexa Graef, a witness, said she was “shocked” after seeing the car drive into the crowd, “which looked deliberate”.
“I hope it’s the last time I see anything like that,” said Graef, whose office overlooks the junction where the car struck.
Police inspected the cream-coloured car used in the attack, leading sniffer dogs around the Mini.
The 24-year-old Afghan, who lived in Munich, was arrested at the scene, police said.
Car Plows Into Crowd in Munich Ahead of Security Conference
At least 20 people were reported injured. Security forces suspect a terrorist attack - the driver deliberately drove the car into a group of demonstrators in #Munich. pic.twitter.com/FPOtXWPqbn
The authorities have “indications of an extremist motive” and the investigation had been handed over to the regional prosecutor’s office, police added.
News outlet Der Spiegel, citing security sources, reported that he was believed to have posted Islamist content online before the attack.
Earlier on Thursday, a fire service spokesman told AFP that several of those hurt had been “seriously injured, some of them in a life-threatening condition”.
Children were also among the victims, according to local media reports.
The suspect was said to have arrived in Germany in 2016 at the height of the mass migrant influx to Europe.
His asylum request was reportedly rejected by German authorities but he was not slated for deportation.
Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder told journalists that the incident was “just terrible” and that “it looks like this was an attack”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives a press statement following a car-ramming attack in Munich. Photo / AFP
“This is not the first incident ... we must show determination that something will change in Germany,” said Soeder, whose CSU party is allied with the conservative CDU at the national level.
Inflamed debate
The CDU/CSU alliance, which polls suggest is on track to emerge as the winner of the election in just over a week, has called for tougher curbs on immigration after the recent attacks.
Under pressure on the issue even before the election was called, Scholz’s Government had moved to make asylum rules stricter and speed up deportations, including to Afghanistan.
Scholz said the returns were “complicated” to organise but that the Government was “in the process of doing so in other cases ... not just once, but on an ongoing basis”.
This latest attack comes amid an already heated debate on immigration and security after several similar incidents, most recently in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last month.
Two people were killed in a knife attack on kindergarten toddlers there, including a 2-year-old boy.
After that attack police arrested a 28-year-old Afghan man who authorities say had a history of mental illness.
In December, six people were killed after a car ploughed into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, wounding hundreds.
A Saudi man was arrested after that attack, with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser saying he also appeared to be mentally disturbed.
Th latest attack came as US Vice-President JD Vance arrived for the annual Munich Security Conference.
Also travelling to Munich is Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is set to hold crucial talks with US representatives over a possible end to the war with Russia.
