Irish leaders condemn 'shocking and despicable' attack on Christmas market in Germany

LAST UPDATE | 21 hrs ago

A CAR HAS driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.

The driver of the car has been arrested. Two people have died and emergency services confirmed that at least 15 people were seriously injured, 37 moderately injured, and 16 lightly injured.

Taoiseach Simon Harris called it a “shocking and despicable” situation.

“Thinking of and praying for the victims and their families and all those involved in responding to the situation,” Harris wrote on social media, adding:: “Families and friends spending time today this Christmas season at markets when this brutal act took place.”

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that he is “shocked and appalled by reports of the loss of life and injuries at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg”.

“My thoughts and prayers go to the victims, their families, emergency services and the German people,” he said.

Martin advised any Irish citizens in the area to follow the advice of local authorities.

NTV television showed multiple ambulances and fire engines at the chaotic site with injured people being rushed off to hospitals and others being treated as they lay on the ground. 

“We presume it was an attack,” a spokeswoman for the interior ministry of Saxony-Anhalt state told AFP in the immediate wake of incident.

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Saxony-Anhalt governor Reiner Haseloff has said in the last few minutes: “”We have arrested the perpetrator. It is a man from Saudi Arabia… a doctor who has been in Germany since 2006.”

“From what we currently know he was a lone attacker so we don’t think there is any further danger for the city,” Haseloff said, speaking to reporters at the scene.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that “the reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears”.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Saxony-Anhalt governor Reiner Haseloff said it is “a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas”.

Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.

On 19 December 2016 in Berlin, an Islamic extremist attacker plowed through a crowd of Christmas market-goers with a truck, leaving 13 people dead and injuring dozens more.

The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

German interior minister Nancy Faeser had said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year but that it was wise to be vigilant.

With reporting from AFP and Press Association

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