Germany is reeling after a carjacking killed five people at a Christmas market in the northeast area of Magdeburg, sparking a conversation over public safety ahead of the upcoming national elections in February.
The Friday night abuse recalled a similar assault in , Berlin , in 2016, when a pilot plowed a vehicle into a group, leaving 13 useless. That sparked an increase in safety, including a profileration of bollards and obstacles, to hinder cars from entering the sites that pop up in the hundreds across , Germany  , in the run-up to Christmas.
The number of casualties has risen to five and more than 200 people were injured,  , Saxony-Anhalt , position premier , Reiner Haseloff , said. More than 40 are so severely crippled” that we have to be very concerned about them”, Chancellor , Olaf Scholz , said during a visit to the state money on Saturday.
According to Scholz, “it is crucial that we check and that we do so with the maximum precision and accuracy.” ” Everything must be left undamaged”.
The think, a physician of Saudi Arabian source who works in the region, drove a leased vehicle into the group and was taken into custody, Haseloff said. Officials who are looking into the attack’s motivation believe the attacker was acting alone.
The suspect was portrayed in previous social media posts and multimedia images as a pro-Islam writer who had adopted far-right beliefs, according to Der Spiegel. He boldly sympathized with the patriotic Alternative for , Germany, or AfD, and criticized Germany’s forgiving attitude on migration, according to the document. He also set up a webpage and offered advice on how to flee , Saudi Arabia, mainly women, Der Spiegel said.
German authorities conducted a threat assessment on the guy next year before deciding that he posed no real danger, according to Die Welt newspapers, citing security officials it didn’t recognize.
” After 25 years in this’ company’ you think everything may astonish you again” , , Peter Neumann, a teacher at , King’s College London , specializing in violence and surveillance, wrote in a blog on X. ” But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in , East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish , Germany  , for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar”.
Saudi Arabia , condemned the invasion in a statement from the foreign government. ” The Kingdom affirms its place in rejecting murder, and expresses its sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the families of the patients, and to the government and people of the , Federal Republic , of Germany, wishing the injured a quick recovery”, the department said.
Far-right boom
According to the public broadcaster ARD, a movie of what it claimed showed police officers swarming a suspect, ordering them to lie on the ground, and then stop moving was posted on the video. After the event, the Christmas market was shut down, and all historical events in the city were suspended, and all social institutions were shut down until December 23 according to Magdeburg authorities.
Following a number of violent attacks in recent months, including a stabbing in the town of Solingen in August that left three people dead and eight wounded, Scholz’s government has been under stress to increase security across the country.
Surveys indicate that the public’s dissatisfaction with its immigration and asylum policies has contributed to a recent surge in assistance for far-right and far-left functions, including the AfD, which is polling following behind the Christian Democratic-led CDU/CSU criticism alliance led by , Friedrich Merz.
According to the most recent Bloomberg polling average, Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has support of around 32 %, the AfD is second with about 19 %, and the SPD is third with 16 %. The BSW, a new far-left party founded in January that calls for a much tougher stance on immigration, is currently fourth place with 14 %, while the Greens are fourth with 14 %, and are fifth with 5.2 %.
Prior to the first national vote scheduled for February 23rd, members of Scholz’s authorities and the opposition have even called for stricter immigration laws.  , Germany  , extended border settings at its nine land borders this year in a bid to stem irregular movement. The latest crime in the , Middle East , has also had a spill effect, raising the risk level across , Europe , as a whole.
The 2016 strike on a Christmas market in downtown , Berlin, which happened during Angela Merkel’s chancellor, set off a heated political debate about security settings and immigration. That intruder was born in , Tunisia , and had links to Islamic criminal companies.
Merz, the current front-runner to succeed Scholz as chancellor, on Tuesday proposed cutting 100 billion euros ($ 104 billion ) from migration and social spending in an effort to slash the state’s bloated expense. Germany’s relatively generous spending on refugees and asylum seekers has long been a contentious issue in the region’s political debate.
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