Furious German protesters take to the streets to demand mass deportations as anger at Angela Merkels open doors immigration policy rises in aftermath of Christmas market attack by Saudi doctor which killed five people including nine-year-old boy
Far-right protesters took to the streets of Germany last night after a devastating Christmas market attack that killed five, allegedly carried out by a Saudi doctor.
Far-right protesters took to the streets of Germany last night after a devastating Christmas market attack that killed five, allegedly carried out by a Saudi doctor.
Tempers are strained after it was revealed police were warned a year ago about the suspect. The car-ramming attack killed four adults and a nine-year-old child, and injured over 200.
Police arrested an unstable 50-year-old Saudi doctor identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen after he allegedly rammed his SUV into a packed market in the town of Magdeburg on Friday night.
The exiled Saudi had praised far-Right politicians for combating the Islamisation of Europe and pledged to take revenge over harassment of female refugees.
It later emerged that German police were warned about al-Abdulmohsen in September last year, but did nothing more than take screenshots of his twisted online threats.
Around 1,000 demonstrators gathered in a central square in the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt yesterday, with people holding a banner with the word Remigration and so-called homeland flags. There were some minor scuffles with the police.
Social media accounts falsely alleged the perpetrator was an Islamist terrorist shortly after the attack, but the German interior minister later identified the suspect as being Islamophobic himself.
Experts warned that right-wing groups could attempt to exploit the tragic incident for their own ends.
Far-right demonstrators take part in a protest after a car drove into the crowd at the market
Far-right protesters took to the streets of Germany last night after a devastating Christmas market attack that killed five, allegedly carried out by a Saudi doctor
Police arrested an unstable 50-year-old Saudi doctor identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen after he allegedly rammed his SUV into a packed market in the town of Magdeburg
A woman holds a candle as others watch a prayer ceremony outside the Magdeburg Dom church, the day after the devastating attack
Firefighters patrol the scene of the crash on Friday after a car rammed into a massive crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in Magdeburg at around 7pm
Matthias Quent, Professor of Sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, told EuroNews: The region in general, eastern Germany, is a hotspot of far-right mobilisations.
And we are facing election campaigns until the federal elections in February. And so this is not just a critical time because of Christmas and the trust that gets destroyed by such an attack but, also, regarding questions of disinformation and polarisation and the spread of hate that will and could happen over these kinds of attacks now.
al-Abdulmohsen voiced support for Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson and Alternative for Germany, the far-right anti-immigration party, trying to build connections to far-right organisations in Germany and the UK.
A harsh critic of Germanys past welcome to many Muslim migrants, he wrote on the platform X that he wished ex-chancellor Angela Merkel could be jailed for life or executed.
Local media Die Welt daily reported that German state and federal police had carried out a risk assessment on al-Abdulmohsen last year but concluded that he posed no specific danger.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned the terrible, insane attack and made a call for national unity amid high political tensions as Germany heads towards February 23 elections.
But as German media dug into al-Abdulmohsens past, and investigators gave away little, criticism has rained down from the far-right and far-left parties already bitterly opposed to the Scholz government.
The Saudi suspect, psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities.
News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germanys spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which al-Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a price for its treatment of Saudi refugees.
And in August al-Abdulmohsen wrote 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.
In a post in December last year, he wrote: Germany is the only country – other than Saudi Arabia – that chases female Saudi asylum seekers all over the world to destroy their lives.
Revenge will come soon. Even if it costs me my life. I will make the German nation pay the price of the crimes committed by its government against Saudi refugees.
Police who arrested him almost immediately after the attack said he tested positive for drugs.
People take part in a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market, in Magdeburg
People hold a sign reading Remigration now! during a protest in Germany
Police officers secure the area during the German Chancellors visit to the scene of a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg
Clergymen pass by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) and German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a prayer ceremony at the Magdeburg Cathedral on Saturday
Firefighters attend an ecumenical memorial service in the Magdeburg Cathedral
Candles, flowers and wreaths sit in front of the entrance to St. Johns Church early on Sunday
The 50-year-old was brought before a judge on Saturday evening, and police said: The judge ordered pre-trial detention for five counts of murder, multiple attempted murder and multiple counts of dangerous bodily harm.
The prosecutor said that the medics grievance about how Germany was treating Saudi dissident asylum seekers was part of the investigation as a possible motive.
al-Abdulmohsen had bypassed security bollards and used an emergency corridor – which should have been blocked for anything other than ambulances and police vehicles – to enter the market.
Hospital staff rallied around victims of the attack, with 120 nurses and more than 20 doctors voluntarily putting in extra shifts that tragic to treat those who were hurt.
He launched his attack just after 7pm local time in Germany, as thousands of shoppers gathered at the centre of Magdeburg.
Driving slowly at first, the blue SUV turned in to an alleyway where hundreds of shoppers were browsing stalls and sipping mulled wine.
He then pointed his vehicle directly at the crowd and ploughed forward. As shoppers fled in panic, the driver turned another corner and drove out of the market.
An off-duty policeman pursued the BMW until he came to a halt outside Magdeburg shopping centre, where he was arrested at gunpoint by armed officers.
The Saudi suspect, psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities
Many brought candles, wreaths and teddy bears to honour the young victims slain and injured in the deadly attack
A woman reported his online threat, made in Arabic, to Berlin police, as well as the German migration authorities but no action was taken.
She said al-Abdulmohsen openly threatened the lives of Germans but police didnt arrest him or take any action. This could have been prevented if the police had done their job properly.
There has been increasingly visible hostility towards the German Government as questions remain over whether the authorities ignored warnings in advance of the fatal attack, including that police had considered putting al-Abdulmohsen on a dangerous persons list previously.
The Chancellor laid a white rose at a church before heading towards his car, but he quickened his step after finding himself being heckled by the disapproving crowd when he visited to pay his respects.
As Germany grieves, anger was also boiling up, with signs that troublesome days lie ahead. More than 1,000 far-Right thugs descended on Magdeburg to protest against the attack, with anger visible on their faces.
Emotions have run high, and Magdeburg has been in deep mourning over the mass carnage on Friday evening.
People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg
The Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, seen abandoned and empty on Saturday
Surgeons have worked around the clock, with one health worker telling local media of blood on the floor everywhere, people screaming, lots of painkillers being administered.
Police and prosecutors cautioned they were at the beginning of their investigation into what motivated the attack.
al-Abdulmohsen, who was arrested at the scene next to the heavily damaged car, referred to himself as a Saudi atheist in an unpublished interview with AFP from 2022.
As an activist, he helped women flee Gulf countries, and has in the past complained that German authorities were not doing enough to help them.
At the same time, he has criticised the entry of other Muslim migrants and war refugees to Germany and backed conspiracy theories about the planned Islamisation of Europe.
The Chancellor and his ministers laid a white rose at a church before leaving the scene
In previous brushes with the law, he was first convicted and fined by a court in the city of Rostock in 2013 for disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes, according to Der Spiegel.
This year he was investigated in Berlin for the misuse of emergency calls after arguing with police at a station in Berlin.
He had been on sick leave since late October from his workplace, a clinic near Magdeburg that treats criminals with substance addiction problems.
The facility said in a statement: The alleged perpetrator is a psychiatric specialist employed in the Bernburg correctional facility, who has been working here since March 2020. However, he has not been on duty since the end of October 2024 due to vacation and illness.
One day before the attack, al-Abdulmohsen, was due to appear before the Tiergarten district court accused of calling the fire department at the Berlin police station on February 23 this year without there being an emergency. He didnt show up to court.
The chairwoman of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Mina Ahadi, said that the Saudi suspect is no stranger to us, because he has been terrorising us for years.
She labelled him a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies and said he doesnt just hate Muslims, but everyone who doesnt share his hatred.
It has been reported that the Saudis first warned Germany in 2007 about the suspect.
They raised concerns about his radical views and requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008 but the German authorities refused, citing concern for the mans welfare.
Saudi authorities alleged that the man had harassed Saudis abroad who opposed his political views.
The local police expressed their heartfelt gratitude to emergency services, describing Friday as a very dark day.
People lay candles and tributes at the site of the tragic attack
Flowers and candles near the Christmas market in Magdeburg
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) has condemned the terrible, insane attack and made a call for national unity amid high political tensions as Germany heads towards February 23 elections
Security measures for the Christmas market were last updated in November, and security has been increased since the attack.
A memorial service for victims of the attack was held at Magdeburg Cathedral on Saturday evening.
The service was attended by families of the victims, emergency workers and government officials, including the German Chancellor.
Chancellor Scholz 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.
The far-right AfDs parliamentary head Bernd Baumann demanded Scholz call a special session of the Bundestag on the desolate security situation, arguing that this is the least that we owe the victims.
And the head of the far-left BSW party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explain why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand.
