German Christmas market attack: Suspect 'unhappy' with treatment of Saudi refugees

Le bilan provisoire fait état de 5 personnes décédées et plus de 200 blessés. MAXPPP – IMAGO/dts Nachrichtenagentur

Les autorités examinent cette piste pour expliquer les motivations de l’auteur, un médecin saoudien de 50 ans arrivé en Allemagne en 2006. Il a tué au moins cinq personnes.

The suspected perpetrator of a deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, appears to have been “dissatisfied” with the treatment of Saudi refugees in the country, local authorities said Saturday.

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Asked about the motives of the alleged perpetrator, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006, local prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said the investigation was ongoing, but “it appears that the crime may have been motivated by dissatisfaction with the way refugees from Saudi Arabia are treated in Germany.”. In August, the person concerned had denounced on his X account “the crimes committed by Germany against Saudi refugees and the obstruction of justice, no matter how much evidence we present to them“.

A 9-year-old child died

The prosecutor specified that the suspect should be remanded in custody after the interrogations. The charges at this stage would be five murders and 205 attempted murders, he added. According to investigators, a 9-year-old child is among the dead, the other four being adults. Around 40 people are very seriously injured, raising fears that the toll could worsen. The authorities also confirmed that the alleged perpetrator acted alone.

Around 7pm on Friday, a powerful BMW suddenly drove into the aisles of the Christmas market, mowing down visitors one by one over a distance of around 400 metres. The suspect was described as an “Islamophobe” by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. “We need to understand the perpetrator, his actions and motivations in detail and then draw the appropriate legal consequences,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who came to pay his respects at the scene of the tragedy with several of his ministers.