German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Magdeburg on Saturday, December 21, a city devastated by a car-ramming attack this Friday on its Christmas market. The motivations remain unclear despite the arrest of the alleged perpetrator, of Saudi origin. “ In the current state of the investigation, it is not yet possible to categorize what happened. », indicated the local police. The latest report shows five deaths, including a child, and more than 200 injured.
5 mins
In the early morning, a few people placed candles on the porch of the Johanneskirche church, just opposite the market, and prayed or cried. “ I’m sad, I’m shocked. I never thought this was possible », confides Michael Raarig, a 67-year-old retired engineer. The German Chancellor arrived in the morning to pay his respects at the scene of the attack.
Olaf Scholz was at the scene of the tragedy in the morning alongside the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt, of which Magdeburg is the capital, reports our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut. The leader of the opposition, the president of the Christian Democratic Party and today’s favorite to succeed Olaf Scholz in the legislative elections on February 23 was also present. Official Germany wanted to show its solidarity. Wreaths were laid at the foot of a church near the scene of the tragedy, which residents of Magdeburg had also already done. In a brief statement, Olaf Scholz deplored the enormous human toll following this vehicular attack. The chancellor wants the perpetrator to be prosecuted with all possible rigor.
“ It is important, when such a terrible event occurs with so many injured and dead, that we remain united, said Olaf Scholz. May hatred not prevail but may our community remain driven by the search for a common future. Those who spread hatred have no right to forgiveness. The author of this attack must be prosecuted with all the rigor provided in our legal arsenal. It is about our future. »
Hundreds of injured
The day before, around 7 p.m. (6 p.m. UT), a powerful car suddenly rushed through the aisles of the local Christmas market, mowing down visitors one by one in its path for some 400 meters. The toll is still provisional but shows five deaths, including a child, and more than 200 injured, “ including many seriously and very seriously injured », According to the regional authority.
Several capitals have expressed their “ shock » Friday, like Paris, Rome, Madrid and Washington, the United States saying it was ready to “ provide help “. Saudi Arabia, the suspect’s country of origin, condemned the attack and affirmed its ” rejection of violence “.
The attack occurred eight years almost to the day after a similar act committed at a Berlin Christmas market, while Germany, in the middle of an electoral campaign, is on alert against the risk of attacks. For authorities, the date is not a coincidence and was chosen deliberately. But no one immediately drew the conclusion that it was, as in Berlin in 2016, an Islamist attack because the profile of the alleged perpetrator, presented in the German media as Taleb A., arrested on board of the ram car, intrigue.
The alleged perpetrator of the deadly attack is “ Islamophobic », declared German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser who came with the Chancellor to the scene of the tragedy. Asked by journalists about the suspect’s motivations, she declared that ” the only thing » that she was able to confirm is “ that he is Islamophobic » in view of his known positions.
An atypical profile
The fifty-year-old man is from Saudi Arabia and was working in the region. Arriving in 2006 for his studies, he trained as a psychiatrist and had obtained refugee status in 2016 apparently due to his hostility to the Saudi regime. He worked in the town of Bernburg, close to Magdeburg, and was not at all known for his sympathies with the jihadist movement.
On the contrary, his frequent positions on social networks paint the portrait of a man feeling persecuted, having broken with Islam and denouncing the “ dangers » of an Islamization of Germany. In an interview with a German daily, he presented himself in 2019 as a “ aggressive criticism of Islam “. This activist, known in the Saudi community, helped people persecuted in his country to obtain political asylum through a website.
His hostility to his original religion seems to have become more and more radical. He denounced the danger of an Islamization of Germany. Talew A. considered himself a victim of persecution in Germany and denounced the police who allegedly refused to protect him and a plan to expel Saudi refugees from Germany. He wrote on social media that only the far-right AfD party could protect him. He had even issued threats, speaking of possible revenge and dreamed of an academy made up of former Muslims to fight Islam in Germany.
Debates on immigration relaunched
The head of the Social Democratic Party, Dirk Wiese, warned on Saturday against any hasty conclusions. “ It seems that things are different here than initially assumed “, he declared to the daily Rheinische Postemphasizing that the suspect’s profile indicates him rather as a sympathizer of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party or of Elon Musk.
The German far right has nevertheless taken up this matter in the run-up to the early German legislative elections on February 23, where the question of immigration will play an important role, after several attacks committed in recent months by foreigners. “ When will this madness end? », Wrote on the X network the co-president of the AfD Alice Weidel, whose party is credited with second place in the polls, at almost 20%. The party places itself behind the conservatives, who are also calling for a tightening of the screw on the reception of refugees, but ahead of the social democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “ When so many people come to us, we also have to look a little closer. We now pay the bill “, judged retired engineer Michael Raarig, very critical of the current government.