German authorities are facing grief and anger from people in Magdeburg after an attacker used an emergency vehicle lane to drive into a Christmas market, killing five people and injuring more than 200 others.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, ministers and regional political leaders were heckled by members of the public during their visit on Saturday, some of whom appeared angry over criticism of security lapses.
German authorities defended the market’s layout and security.
There were reports that authorities were warned about the suspect last year, and police said they conducted an assessment a year ago to see if the suspect could pose a potential threat.
The suspect has Ordered to be released on bail pending trial and faces charges of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.
Normally at this time of year, Germany’s city centers are packed with shoppers and revelers drinking mulled wine, but this year the atmosphere is very different.
The main Christmas market was cordoned off and surrounded by police cars, with armed officers patrolling nearby shops and shopping centres.
Sadness, confusion and anger filled the air in Magdeburg, and people asked how this could have happened.
When Scholz and his colleagues walked out of the cordoned-off market on Saturday, they were met with boos, heckles and shouts of “hau ab,” an extremely aggressive form of “fuck off.”
Some people seemed angry about the security breach. Others seemed simply annoyed and irritated by Germany’s political leaders.
Security at Christmas markets across Germany has been stepped up since a similar attack in Berlin in 2016, when a man drove a truck into a market crowd, killing 12 people.
Open Christmas markets are now surrounded by some kind of barrier – usually large concrete blocks, as is the case in Magdeburg.
However, the gap in the guardrail is large enough for emergency vehicles to pass through.
Emergency crews need an evacuation route in the event of a “routine” emergency and all relevant agencies approved the plan, city official Ronnie Krueger told reporters at a news conference Saturday.
“The safety and security concept must, on the one hand, protect the people visiting the event as much as possible, and at the same time, ensure that if an accident occurs, they can leave the site safely and quickly,” he said.
“Maybe this is inevitable,” he added.
German media reported that warnings about potential threats from the suspects were issued before the attack.
The suspect is a doctor from Saudi Arabia named Taleb al-Abdulmohsen. He arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.
An atheist, he runs a website aimed at helping other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homes. His social media feeds are filled with anti-Islamic sentiment and conspiracy theories.
At a press conference on Saturday, Magdeburg Police Chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said police had assessed whether the suspect could pose a potential threat, “but that was a discussion a year ago.”
He added that an investigation into the suspect’s past was ongoing and declined to comment further.
One of the reports is believed to have come from the suspect’s home country of Saudi Arabia.
A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that the Saudi government sent four official notices, known as “verbal notes”, to the German authorities warning them about Abdul Mohsen’s holdings. “A very extreme view.”
However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that Saudi Arabia may have been launching a disinformation campaign to discredit those trying to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.
Asked about Saudi Arabia’s warning on Saturday, Langhans said he had no information.
Later, Holger Münch, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), told public broadcaster ZDF that his office had received a notification from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. Appropriate investigative measures, but the matter was not specified.
He added that the suspect “had various contacts with the authorities, insulted them and even issued threats, but he was not known for violent behavior”.
Mink said past investigations need to be reexamined.
