Suspected attack on German Christmas market kills at least 2

A SUSPECTED attacker drove a car into a Christmas market in Germany on Friday (Dec 20) evening, killing at least two people, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) news agency reported.

Media reports about the number of casualties in Magdeburg, a city in eastern Germany, varied in the immediate aftermath. The Christmas market, a popular kind of holiday destination in many German cities, was closed after the incident, Magdeburg police said on X.

DPA quoted Saxony-Anhalt state premier Reiner Haseloff for the death toll. Public broadcaster ARD showed a video of what it said was police officers pointing guns and swarming a suspect, ordering the person to lie on the ground and stop moving.  

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has been under pressure to boost security nationwide after several violent attacks in recent months, including a stabbing in the city of Solingen that left three people dead and eight wounded. 

Germany extended border controls at all of its nine land frontiers this year in a move to tackle irregular migration.

Polls suggest that public frustration with the government’s migration and asylum policies has helped fuel a recent surge in support for far-right and far-left parties. Members of Scholz’s government and the opposition conservative bloc have been calling for stricter immigration rules ahead of an early federal election expected in February. BLOOMBERG