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

[seasideForest]

I'm not sure where the 11 confirmed dead is coming from? I live in Germany and everywhere I've checked says 2 confirmed dead including a toddler. Except maybe Bild but Bild is gutter press, and I can't access it anyway.

Interestingly, there's a report in respectable German media, who fact-check, about where the supposedly confirmed higher numbers of fatalities came from that where in international media but not German (apart from probably Bild) yesterday.
Tagesschau ARD is the evening news, so to speak, watched by many, many Germans. Reporting is required to be politically neutral. The report I've linked is written by a fact-finder for ARD.

Note: I'm still back in prehistoric times with computer stuff - I can't figure out how to get Google translate on this report to make it available to all the non-German speakers on WS, which is obviously the great majority. I will DM a few WS mbrs to see if somebody could do it for me. Please bear with me and be patient and mods not delete right away. I think it is highly important that local press is heard and read, rather than the Daily Mail etc or even better-quality foreign press like BBC.

Rechtsextreme Desinformation über Anschlag in Magdeburg

Nach dem Anschlag auf den Weihnachtsmarkt in Magdeburg haben Rechtsextreme in den sozialen Netzwerken zahlreiche Falschbehauptungen verbreitet. Auch internationale Akteure mischten dabei mit. Von Pascal Siggelkow.

www.tagesschau.de

Those higher numbers came from social media including from other countries and of course from the far-right.

There is a whole list of disinformation that was spread yesterday: 11 deaths, 34 deaths, 5 perpetrators, a bomb, it was a Syrian refugee who came in the huge refugee crisis, it was a Kurdish militant etc etc. An important German politician, Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier - Wikipedia was quoted saying things he had not said. They were made up quotes, so not even misunderstandings.

One person who was particularly active in spreading disinformation: Martin Sellner Martin Sellner - Wikipedia who has been denied entry to both the UK and the US, as well as Germany. This time, he was spreading disinformation before there was any information released by officials in Germany, (so it was his own fantasy for his own political agenda: MOO to this bit in brackets, otherwise I've been summarising the report).

Various far-right groups in Germany have been mobilising to go and demonstrate in Magdeburg this evening, which sounds a bit like what happened in Southport in England last summer (that thread is on WS too). The far-right are mobilising people on at least partial lies, certainly not on anything nearing the truth. MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

Note: I'm still back in prehistoric times with computer stuff - I can't figure out how to get Google translate on this report to make it available to all the non-German speakers on WS, which is obviously the great majority.

I think that most people's Google browser will offer to translate the article to English when they click on your link. Mine did, and I was able to read the whole article. Thank you.

It is disturbing to read how some are using this tragic incident to try to create unrest.

 

[DS2021]

The 11 dead came from a tabloid yesterday. It appears to be false

 

[seasideForest]

Most people's Google program will offer to translate the article to English when they click on your link. Mine did, and I was able to read the whole article. Thank you.

Thank you so much, SouthAussie. On some threads I've seen mods objecting to a foreign language link where there is no translation provided by the member who posted.

 

[seasideForest]

The 11 dead came from a tabloid yesterday. It appears to be false

It IS false, that's my point. The tabloids didn't fact-check all this stuff being spread around for various people's political agendas.

 

[ZaZara]

Germany market attack: Saudi Arabia warned German police over market suspect’s extreme views

German police had been repeatedly warned that a Saudi doctor who is suspected of ploughing a car into crowds at a Magdeburg Christmas market posed a terror threat.

Saudi Arabia’s government sent four warnings to German authorities over the extreme views of Taleb al Abdulmohsen, a former Muslim who posted of his plans to do “something big” on social media.

Abdulmohsen was granted asylum in Germany in 2016 despite having a criminal record over public order offences committed three years earlier.


BBM

 

[Dotta]

It IS false, that's my point. The tabloids didn't fact-check all this stuff being spread around for various people's political agendas.

IMO it was usual information chaos which always happens directly after the disaster.

JMO

 

[seasideForest]

Rechtsextreme Desinformation über Anschlag in Magdeburg

Nach dem Anschlag auf den Weihnachtsmarkt in Magdeburg haben Rechtsextreme in den sozialen Netzwerken zahlreiche Falschbehauptungen verbreitet. Auch internationale Akteure mischten dabei mit. Von Pascal Siggelkow.

www.tagesschau.de

Translation:
Right-wing extremist disinformation about attack

Following the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, right-wing extremists have spread numerous false allegations on social networks. International actors also got involved.

Five perpetrators, a bomb allegedly planted at the Christmas market and supposedly 34 dead: all of these claims were spread on social networks shortly after the attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg. And according to the current state of the investigation, they are all false.

Right-wing extremist circles in particular were quick to try and exploit the attack politically and fuel the atmosphere with false allegations. Right-wing extremist Austrian Martin Sellner was at the forefront of this, writing numerous posts about Magdeburg on his Telegram channel, among others, even before any information had been published by official bodies.

False information about the origin of the perpetrator

Sellner and many other actors from the right-wing spectrum claimed immediately after the attack, for example, that the alleged perpetrator was a Syrian. Some accounts painted the picture that the attacker was a refugee who had come to Germany in the wake of the 2015/16 asylum crisis. High-reach channels from abroad with a right-wing agenda also adopted this false narrative to incite hatred against Islam and the policies of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The police announced yesterday evening that the arrested suspect is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who came to Germany in 2006. He is said to have last worked as a doctor specialising in psychotherapy in Saxony-Anhalt.

According to previous findings, he was not known to the authorities as an Islamist. He has had asylum status as a political refugee since 2016. According to his own statements, he is said to have renounced Islam at the end of the 1990s and is considered an opponent of the Saudi Arabian royal family.

The suspect's alleged X account contains both Islamophobic content and posts that explicitly oppose Merkel and her asylum policy. ‘Merkel should spend the rest of her life in prison as punishment for her criminal secret project to Islamise Europe,’ one of his posts reads.

 

[helix527]

Rarely have I seen so many conflicting death totals for a large scale terrorist attack.

 

[acutename]

reminds m of this person:

Nidal Hasan​

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Nidal_Hasan




Early life · Military service, higher education and medical career · Religious and ideological beliefs · Prior to the Fort Hood shooting · Fort Hood attacks.

Also a psychiatrist; also trying to find his way in a mostly non-Muslim society...so called modern western society always trying to be accepting but too many ideologies just do not always mix and people go off the rails IMO.

 

[SouthAussie]

"Nora Abdulkarim, a Harvard-based scholar of Saudi feminism who met Abdulmohsen in 2017, said at the time he should be avoided because he had “issues” and that “there is something wrong with his mind”.

“From the Dina Ali case, I wasn’t comfortable with Taleb’s ‘style’, shall we say. I noted ego, paranoia, aggressiveness, unclear and at times suspicious access to information, questionable ethics in terms of activist methods, and emotional instability.” "

Suspect in Magdeburg market attack is pro-AfD Saudi doctor

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, who arrived in Germany in 2006, praised far-Right politicians including Geert Wilders in posts online

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Dotta]

"Revealed:
Police were warned a year ago that Xmas market maniac was planning an atrocity -
but did nothing more than take screenshots of his twisted online threats."

Police were warned that Xmas market maniac was planning an atrocity

German police were warned about 'unstable' Dr Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen in September last year, but did nothing more than take screenshots of his twisted online threats.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[seasideForest]

IMO it was usual information chaos which always happens directly after the disaster.

Unfortunately NOT Dotta, unless it is now considered usual for there to be active purposeful spread of disinformation after disasters, by people who are neither witnesses nor in any offical capacity. See my quoted post below:

One person who was particularly active in spreading disinformation: Martin Sellner Martin Sellner - Wikipedia who has been denied entry to both the UK and the US, as well as Germany. This time, he was spreading disinformation before there was any information released by officials in Germany,

He wasn't present, he lives in Austria, he wasn't quoting anybody on the ground, he was pulling numbers out of a hat and presenting them as facts.

 

[Dotta]

Unfortunately NOT Dotta, unless it is now considered usual for there to be active purposeful spread of disinformation after disasters, by people who are neither witnesses nor in any offical capacity. See my quoted post below:


He wasn't present, he lives in Austria, he wasn't quoting anybody on the ground, he was pulling numbers out of a hat and presenting them as facts.

Sorry
I have no idea who this person is.
I only checked info about this attack in my country's MSM
(they covered it closely)
and also looked at DM.

Oh, and WS as well.

No idea about the disinformation.

 

[dotr]

Magdeburg mourns Christmas market dead

Saudi national, alleged to have killed five and injured more than 200, had issued a warning on social media

www.theguardian.com

''Forensic scientists are investigating the possibility that Abdulmohsen had deliberately turned off the emergency braking mechanism on the BMW X3, which he had hired before the attack, in order to maximise its impact.''

''One woman said it appeared that the driver of the car, which headed towards the town hall, seemed to have specifically aimed at a fairytale-themed section of the market, where a large number of families with young children were gathered.''

 

[seasideForest]

Sorry
I have no idea who this person is.
I only checked info about this attack in my country's MSM
(they covered it closely)
and also looked at DM.

RSBM for focus
Then, respectfully, maybe you shouldn't have commented on my post w/o reading what I was referring to. That's one way new information gets lost and misinformation continues to spread.

I added a quote and link from reputable German media and added additional info e.g. on the Austrian for a reason!
Daily Mail has good photos and maps and cover internationally but they don't always fact-check or do in-depth articles! In Britain they're nicknamed the Daily Fail in fact. German Bild is way worse than the Daily Mail btw.

MOO

 

[dotr]

 

[Chimera]

Germany market attack: Saudi Arabia warned German police over market suspect’s extreme views

German police had been repeatedly warned that a Saudi doctor who is suspected of ploughing a car into crowds at a Magdeburg Christmas market posed a terror threat.

Saudi Arabia’s government sent four warnings to German authorities over the extreme views of Taleb al Abdulmohsen, a former Muslim who posted of his plans to do “something big” on social media.

Abdulmohsen was granted asylum in Germany in 2016 despite having a criminal record over public order offences committed three years earlier.


BBM

Rbm.
They need to be more careful about allowing criminals into Germany, or any country.

Sadly, this is turning out exactly how some have suspected.
A raging Islamic terrorist.
Rest in peace to the deceased.
Omo.

 

[OddOneOut]

IMO it was usual information chaos which always happens directly after the disaster.

JMO

JMO, I agree completely. I noticed a long time ago that information from any source that comes out immediately after a disaster or attack is unreliable. I usually wait at least three days before believing anything in the "news."

 

[Dotta]

"Who is Magdeburg suspect
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen?

The dark history behind the Saudi doctor
at the centre of the German Christmas attack.

The softly spoken psychiatrist was unfailingly polite in his brief exchanges with his neighbours. One called him 'reserved but upright'.

Others assumed he was a decent sort too.
Why else was he quoted in the liberal media as a humanitarian 'activist' who spoke out in support of female Saudi refugees fleeing oppression?

But little about Dr Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was quite as it seemed.

Alone in his ground-floor flat in the medieval German town of Bernburg,
his patina of respectability soon faded along with his ready smile."

Who is Magdeburg suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen?

Little about Dr Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was quite as it seemed. Alone in his ground-floor flat, his patina of respectability soon faded along with his ready smile.

www.dailymail.co.uk