At the same time that some 40 people are still being treated for their serious injuries after the attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg last Friday – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier now says that a dark shadow has fallen over Christmas.
– Hate and violence must not have the last word. Let’s not let ourselves be driven apart. Let us stand together, he says.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s annual Christmas speech will be broadcast tomorrow, but the speech has already been published in writing. He calls for unity and speaks directly to the relatives of the victims of the attack on Friday.
– I know that you cannot find comfort in the many well-intentioned words addressed to you. But I want to tell you today: You are not alone in your pain. People across our country feel and grieve with you.
He further says that he wishes all the injured a speedy recovery.
– A dark shadow rests over this particular Christmas. Sadness, pain, horror and incomprehensibility of what happened.
– Many will be upset, worried, maybe even scared. All of these feelings are understandable. But they must not dominate us and they must not paralyze us, says Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Sea of flowers and light
Today, many Germans have moved to the place where the attack took place. Pictures from the scene show a huge sea of flowers and candles lit by mourners.
Four women and a nine-year-old boy were killed when a man in a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market last Friday night. Over 200 were injured, approximately 40 of them seriously.
A 50-year-old Saudi man has been arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder. The German police have not been able to determine the motive for the attack, but Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has said that the man appears to have acted as an Islamist terrorist but that he ideologically sees himself as a clear enemy of Islam.