After the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called for social cohesion. It’s important, he said, “that we stick together as a country.” Those who sow hate will not get away with it. At the same time, the Chancellor demanded precise and accurate investigations. Nothing should be left uninvestigated, and one must understand the perpetrator, their actions, and their motives, then the criminal law can be applied accordingly, Scholz said.
The Chancellor visited the crime scene, accompanied by Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister-President Reiner Haseloff (CDU), as well as Federal Ministers Steffi Lemke (Greens), Nancy Faeser (SPD), and Volker Wissing (independent), and unexpectedly, CDU Chairman Friedrich Merz.
On the Magdeburg Christmas market the day before, a 50-year-old man in a BMW SUV had driven into the crowd and, according to the latest reports, had killed at least five people and injured over 200, including around 40 severely injured and over 80 people with other serious injuries. The death toll is feared to rise further.
The backgrounds of the crime are still unclear. The 50-year-old driver of the fatal vehicle is from Saudi Arabia, but is not an Islamist, but rather an Islam-hater. He was last active as a doctor in Bernburg.