Germany - Car Plows into Christmas Market in Magdeburg, Multiple Dead/Injured

[steeltowngirl]

A woman who spoke to the regional newspaper, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung said that the perpetrator had “driven deliberately into the section of the Christmas market decked out with scenes from fairytales”, where a lot of families with young children were gathered. She told the paper she had just managed to fling herself and her child out of the path of the vehicle.

Two killed and scores injured in Germany as car ploughs into crowd at Christmas market

Dark BMW reportedly drove into crowd in eastern German town of Magdeburg in what is being described as a terror attack

www.theguardian.com

 

[scandinavian girl]

What we know this morning​

Two people have been killed, including a child. The German state premier says he can't rule out further deaths due to the severity of some injuries

• At least 68 people have been injured in the attack

Magdeburg Germany attack updates: Car hits crowds at Christmas market, leaving two dead and 68 injured

The suspected attacker, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor living in Germany, is believed to have acted alone.

www.bbc.com

 

[BrianJohnson]

Been reading up on the attacker and his political views, very anti islam and a strong hatred of the German police and big supporter of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, not sure going to find many muslims or police officers in a christmas market so don’t think hatred of police or muslims is a motive for this attack. If he had attacked a mosque or a police station yes but not this. Hope he spends rest of his life behind bars

 

[ZaZara]

Todesfahrt in Magdeburg: Arzt unter Drogen rast in Weihnachtsmarkt

After the deadly rampage at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, BILD learnt that Taleb A. (50) was allegedly under the influence of drugs. An initial drug swipe test came back positive.

The doctor, who comes from Saudi Arabia, killed at least four people when he drove a BMW SUV X3 into visitors to the Christmas market on Friday evening.


BBM

 

[Dotta]

"09:44 am – Number of dead increases to four​

The police have to revise the number of deaths upwards:
four people died as a result of the attack.

The "Bild" newspaper was the first to report this and also spoke of 41 seriously injured people.

It is unclear how many of these people are in critical condition.
According to 'Bild', 86 people with serious injuries are also being treated in hospitals.
78 people were slightly injured."

Anschlag in Magdeburg: ++ Tausende Bürger bei Trauerfeier – Wagenknecht fordert Aufklärung von Faeser ++ Liveticker - WELT

Zahlreiche Bürger kommen zur Gedenkfeier im Magdeburger Dom. „Gibt es noch einen sicheren Ort?“, ruft ein Bischof bei seiner Predigt. Unterdessen verlangt Sahra Wagenknecht Antworten im Innenministerium zu den Warnungen vor dem Täter. Alle Entwicklungen im Liveticker.

www.welt.de

 

[BrianJohnson]

More may perish but it is an absolute miracle “only” 4 died in the attack, I was really expecting to wake up this morning, load the thread, and see the death toll was 25 or something

 

[ZaZara]

205 Verletzte: Vier Tote! Zahl der Opfer nach Anschlag in Magdeburg steigt

205 injured: four dead! Number of victims rising after Magdeburg attack

Following the attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, the police are now reporting four dead and 41 seriously injured. According to BILD, 86 people are also being treated in hospitals for serious injuries. 78 people were slightly injured in the attack.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Magdeburg: Taleb A. nannte sich „aggressivster Kritiker des Islams“

BILD learnt that Taleb A. was not known as or suspected of being an Islamist.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 2019, he even criticised Islam. ‘I am the most aggressive critic of Islam in history,’ he said there.

He had turned his back on Islam. Taleb A.: ‘That's why I was threatened: they wanted to “slaughter” me if I returned to Saudi Arabia. So I decided to apply for asylum in Germany. It would have made no sense to expose myself to the risk of having to return and then being killed.’ A. also claims to have founded an internet platform that helps Saudi Arabian women to apply for asylum in Germany.

He also presents himself as a critic of Islam on a profile on X, which is apparently run by him. And repeatedly spreads crude theories about Germany.

‘Germany hunts down Saudi asylum seekers inside and outside Germany to destroy their lives’ and “Germany wants to Islamise Europe”, for example, is what his alleged profile description says. One of his profile pictures shows a machine gun labelled ‘USA’.

A. also shared content praising the AfD and its stance on Islam. He also shared an altered photo of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel holding a sign with the English inscription ‘I destroyed Europe’.

In a video that was only posted there minutes after the deadly rampage, a man also introduces himself as Taleb A., a doctor and psychiatrist working in Germany. In a confused speech, he says, among other things, that critics of Islam are ‘actively and criminally’ persecuted in Germany.

In a video interview published a few days ago on an Islamophobic US blog, A. also expounds crude theories, reports Der Spiegel. According to A., the German state is running a ‘covert secret operation’ to ‘hunt down Saudi ex-Muslims worldwide and destroy their lives’. At the same time, Syrian jihadists were granted asylum in Germany.

Terrorism expert Peter R. Neumann, professor at King's College London, wrote on X: ‘After 25 years in this “business” you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance of Islamists - I really didn't have that one on my radar.’

BBM

 

[Skigh]

Been reading up on the attacker and his political views, very anti islam and a strong hatred of the German police and big supporter of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, not sure going to find many muslims or police officers in a christmas market so don’t think hatred of police or muslims is a motive for this attack. If he had attacked a mosque or a police station yes but not this. Hope he spends rest of his life behind bars

I agree. The attack targeted families and children and other innocent people enjoying a Christmas market.

 

[ZaZara]

IMO the question is: was Taleb A. really an ex-muslim or was this simply a decoy (taqiyya) to gain asylum status in Germany?
It has happened before, he would certainly not be the first or the only one to claim fear of persecution and death because of apostacy, while continuing to visit the mosque.
Fact is that he chose a Christmas market for his rampage, and not a mosque or an Islamic feast.

 

[Sarahlou]

IMO the question is: was Taleb A. really an ex-muslim or was this simply a decoy (taqiyya) to gain asylum status in Germany?
It has happened before, he would certainly not be the first or the only one to claim fear of persecution and death because of apostacy, while continuing to visit the mosque.
Fact is that he chose a Christmas market for his rampage, and not a mosque or an Islamic feast.

Exactly. I'm not buying what he's selling. He carried out an Islamic terrorist style attack.

 

[detective.moon]

IMO the question is: was Taleb A. really an ex-muslim or was this simply a decoy (taqiyya) to gain asylum status in Germany?
It has happened before, he would certainly not be the first or the only one to claim fear of persecution and death because of apostacy, while continuing to visit the mosque.
Fact is that he chose a Christmas market for his rampage, and not a mosque or an Islamic feast.

but germany wouldn’t refuse asylum to a specialised doctor because of his religion. that doesn’t make sense. germany has a doctor shortage of 50.000, and lately there’s been worries around whether the 6000 syrian doctors will return to syria now that the regime has fallen.

Syrian doctors essential for German health care system – DW – 12/17/2024

Syrians make up the largest group of foreign doctors in Germany. Around 6,000 now live and work here after fleeing the civil war in their homeland. Now, after the fall of the Assad regime, the German government wants Syrian doctors to stay, saying their work has become indispensable for the...

www.dw.com

it seems like he’s just another right wing conspiracy thinker

 

[wtiger]

Been reading up on the attacker and his political views, very anti islam and a strong hatred of the German police and big supporter of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, not sure going to find many muslims or police officers in a christmas market so don’t think hatred of police or muslims is a motive for this attack. If he had attacked a mosque or a police station yes but not this. Hope he spends rest of his life behind bars

not many muslims at a xmas market?

you had a walk around Birmingham xmas market this year??

 

[Moonchild90]

Hideous. Every year I have a nervous feeling about Christmas markets. Sick of these morons committing attacks like this.

For that reason I will never attend =(

 

[BrianJohnson]

not many muslims at a xmas market?

you had a walk around Birmingham xmas market this year??

Muslims don’t celebrate christmas as one of their religious festivals, sure there will have been some there but muslims don’t celebrate christmas

 

[BrianJohnson]

not many muslims at a xmas market?

you had a walk around Birmingham xmas market this year??

They could have been christians, huge numbers of Syrians, Iraqis etc are christian

 

[Skigh]

Germany latest: Mother of nine-year-old boy killed in Christmas market attack pays tribute

A 50-year-old suspect is being remanded in custody after five people were killed and more than 200 injured in a car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg. Saudi Arabian sources say they repeatedly warned Germany about the suspect's "extremist" views.

news.sky.com

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has arrived at the Magdeburg Christmas market.

We expect him to give a statement at around 10.45am UK time.

 

[Skigh]

Christmas market attack: Perpetrator's tweet months before attack

An adult and a toddler are among those killed after an anti-Islam doctor rammed into a massive crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in Magdeburg at around 7pm on December 20.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A search of his name and details of his work revealed he was interviewed by the Frankfurter Rundschau, a regional newspaper, in 2019

'He came to Germany as a visiting doctor during his specialist training as a psychotherapist and later applied for asylum here because he had been threatened with death for turning away from Islam. The 44-year-old is recognized as a political refugee', the newspaper wrote of him five years ago.


I very much hope that his patients are traced as goodness knows what advice and treatment he gave especially as he seems to despise various groups of people .

 

[ZaZara]

but germany wouldn’t refuse asylum to a specialised doctor because of his religion. that doesn’t make sense. germany has a doctor shortage of 50.000, and lately there’s been worries around whether the 6000 syrian doctors will return to syria now that the regime has fallen.

Syrian doctors essential for German health care system – DW – 12/17/2024

Syrians make up the largest group of foreign doctors in Germany. Around 6,000 now live and work here after fleeing the civil war in their homeland. Now, after the fall of the Assad regime, the German government wants Syrian doctors to stay, saying their work has become indispensable for the...

www.dw.com

it seems like he’s just another right wing conspiracy thinker

IMO you are confusing asylum with immigration. This doctor did not live in Germany as a mere immigrant, he had special asylum status.
The Syrian doctors may still want to immigrate to Germany, but they would lose asylum status.

 

[ZaZara]

From WELT reporter @Tim_Roehn on twitter / X:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1870402043040464899

Tim Röhn:

Tragic: We @welt have the original email that a woman from wanted to send to the police in Berlin on 26 September 2023. Only: She sent it to the police station in the 7500-inhabitant community of Berlin in New Jersey, . What happened to it there? So far unclear.

Person claims to have subsequently - on the advice of the @BAMF_Dialogue social media account
- also contacted the ‘real’ Berlin police via the contact form with the warning. This claim cannot currently be verified due to the lack of a screenshot. We are working on it.

What is not good: We now know that @BAMF_Dialogue also responded in at least one other case to a tip from x user about foreigners in Germany. Why that didn't happen here - that needs to be clarified.

BBM

BAMF is the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.