A man suspected of driving a car into a German Christmas market in an attack that killed at least five people and injured scores more will be charged with murder and attempted murder, police said Sunday after the man was taken into custody.
Police in downtown Magdeburg, where the attack occurred on Friday, also reported scuffles at a right-wing extremist demonstration attended by about 2,100 people on Saturday evening, while other residents attended somber memorial events.
The suspect is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany for almost two decades.
A judge ordered the pre-trial detention of the man, identified in German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, after prosecutors filed charges of five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, according to a police statement.
The dead were a nine-year-old boy and four adult women aged 52, 45, 75 and 67.
German authorities have not released the name of the suspect, who has permanent residency status in Germany, and media reports do not mention his full name in line with local data protection laws.
Police reported scuffles at a protest rally attended by around 2,100 people on Saturday evening, a day after the attack.
Right-wingers had described the gathering on the messaging app Telegram as a “demonstration against terror”.
Demonstrators were seen wearing black balaclavas and holding a large banner that read “Remigration,” a term popular with far-right supporters who seek the mass deportation of migrants and people not considered ethnically German .
The motive for the attack on Friday evening remains unclear.
The investigators are investigating, among other things, the suspect's criticism of the German authorities' handling of Saudi refugees.
He was also a staunch critic of Islam and had expressed his support for the right-wing extremist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) on the social media platform X.
