A vehicle has driven into a crowd in Mannheim and there is a suspicion of an attack. The police have closed two bridges in the direction of Ludwigshafen. According to unconfirmed reports, the suspect has been arrested and was allegedly armed.
It is reported that a black SUV drove at high speed from the Paradeplatz in the direction of the Water Tower into a group of pedestrians. The inner city, where the Fasnacht market has been taking place since Thursday, was the scene of the incident. Local newspaper Mannheimer Morgen reported shortly after the event of at least one fatality and the police have since confirmed a death. The Bild newspaper, however, reports of two fatalities and 25 people, some of whom are seriously injured.
“It is terrible here, no one knows what happened, one only sees the injured and the dead and one does not know what to do” a fairground worker is quoted as saying by the newspaper. The intensive care unit of the university clinic reportedly went into emergency mode. The city center is completely cordoned off and the Baden-Württemberg Interior Ministry has advised citizens to avoid the city center through a warning app, with the outcome of the planned Fasnacht events yet to be determined.
According to local residents, the previous night’s Fasnacht procession was still protected by concrete barriers, which have since been removed.
Note – this is a very intense video:
This is the third such incident in as many months. If this turns out to be a similar attack, like the one in Munich recently, the new video from Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, in which she sends her greetings to the Muslim Ramadan, “so that we can live together in peace and freedom here” might not please many people.