At the scene of what German politicians described as a car-ramming “attack” that left 28 people injured, some critically, in the southern city of Munich, police have detained a man, reports RTE.
The violence occurred in the Bavarian city the night before a well-known security conference.
A trail of victims and their possessions were left on the street when the Mini Cooper crashed into a trade unionist rally.
The driver, a 24-yr-old Afghan asylum seeker known to German media as Farhad N., was taken into custody by police after they fired a shot at the damaged vehicle, reports RTE.
Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, denounced the “awful” attack and pledged harsh penalties.
Following a deadly vehicle rampage at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg in December, the suspected assault left shoes, glasses and an infant pram lying around, reports RTE.
Witness Alexa Graef described how the car’s purposeful impact on the gathering left her “shocked.”
“I hope it’s the last time I see anything like that,” said Ms Graef, whose office overlooks the junction where the car struck, reports RTE.
Police led sniffing dogs about the Mini as they examined the cream-coloured vehicle used in the assault.
According to police, the Munich resident, 24, was taken into custody at the site, r r
There are “indications of an extremist motive” according to the authorities, and the regional prosecutor’s office has been given control of the investigation, police stated.
According to security sources cited by news magazine Der Spiegel, he was suspected of posting Islamist propaganda online before to the incident, reports RTE.
A fire department spokesperson had earlier told AFP that a number of the victims were “seriously injured, some of them in a life-threatening condition.”
According to accounts in the local media, children were also among the victims, reports RTE.
According to reports, the suspect entered Germany in 2016, during the peak of the European migration wave.
He was not scheduled for deportation, but German officials apparently denied his asylum plea.
Markus Soeder, the premier of the state of Bavaria, told reporters that “it looks like this was an attack” and that the occurrence was “just terrible,” reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
