A Saudi doctor who allegedly killed five people during a devastating attack on a Christmas market has been charged with five counts of murder.
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, rammed his SUV into a packed market in the town of Magdeburg on Friday night, killing nine-year-old André Gleißner and four adults. The other four victims were revealed by police as four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75.
Al-Abdulmohsen was remanded in pretrial custody last night after prosecutors pressed charges of murder on five counts, multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, according to a police statement.
This came as around 700 hard-right demonstrators gathered in Magdeburg on Saturday, with people holding a banner with the word ‘Remigration Now’ and so-called homeland flags.
The protesters, described by German tabloid Bild as right-wing extremists and hooligans, marched through Magdeburg shouting: ‘Anyone who doesn’t love Germany should leave Germany’, ‘Migration kills’ and ‘We must take back our cities, our villages and our homeland’.
Some of the demonstrators reportedly wore masked and were aggressive, resulting in minor scuffles with police.
Social media accounts falsely alleged al-Abdulmohsen was an Islamist terrorist shortly after the attack, but the German interior minister later identified the suspect as being Islamophobic himself.
A harsh critic of Germany’s past welcome too many Muslim migrants, al-Abdulmohsen wrote on the platform X that he wished ex-chancellor Angela Merkel could be jailed for life or executed.
In 2015, Merkel implemented an ‘open door’ policy, which allow over a million asylum seekers to cross the border into Germany.
Al-Abdulmohsen was pictured in a white t-shirt (right) as he arrived at court last night, where he was remanded on charges of murder, attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm
Police arrested an ‘unstable’ 50-year-old Saudi doctor identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen after he allegedly rammed his SUV into a packed market in the town of Magdeburg
Hard-right demonstrators take part in a protest after a car drove into the crowd at the market
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, rammed his SUV into a packed market in the town of Magdeburg on Friday night, killing four women aged 45 to 75 and nine-year-old André Gleißner (pictured) as well as injuring over 200 people
Al-Abdulmohsen drove his SUV into the packed Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday night
A woman holds a candle as others watch a prayer ceremony outside the Magdeburg Dom church, the day after the devastating attack
The exiled Saudi attacker had praised hard-Right politicians for combating the ‘Islamisation’ of Europe and pledged to take ‘revenge’ over harassment of female refugees.
Al-Abdulmohsen had voiced support for Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson and Alternative for Germany, the hard-right anti-immigration party, trying to build connections to hard-right organisations in Germany and the UK.
Musk reposted a tweet by Nigel Farage which blamed the Christmas market attack on border policies.
At last night’s protest in Magdeburg, a known neo-Nazi called Thorsten Heise reportedly stirred up the crowd by yelling: ‘Deport, deport, deport’ and ‘Resistance’.
The masked protestors who waved anti-immigration posters and shouted chants of ‘migration kills’ were escorted by hundreds of police in full riot gear as they marched through the city.
‘Among the demonstrators were many extremely violent far-right groups from across Germany. Many of them were masked,’ said Oliver Kreuzfeld, an expert on the far-right scene from Endstation Rechts, an initiative against extremism based in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Kreuzfeld observed the demonstration and identified members of violent neo-Nazi groups known for past violent attacks on trains. They also included members of long-established groups, like the Neonazi Kiez in Dortmund.
An expert has now warned that right-wing groups could attempt to exploit the tragic incident for their own ends.
Matthias Quent, Professor of Sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, told EuroNews: ‘The region in general, eastern Germany, is a hotspot of far-right mobilisations.
‘And we are facing election campaigns until the federal elections in February. And so this is not just a critical time because of Christmas and the trust that gets destroyed by such an attack but, also, regarding questions of disinformation and polarisation and the spread of hate that will and could happen over these kinds of attacks now.’
Firefighters patrol the scene of the crash on Friday after a car rammed into a massive crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in Magdeburg at around 7pm
Hard-right protesters took to the streets of Germany last night after a devastating Christmas market attack that killed five, allegedly carried out by a Saudi doctor
People hold a sign reading ‘Remigration now!’ during a protest in Germany
People take part in a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market, in Magdeburg
Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche, a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024
Public workers clean the Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, on Sunday morning, December 22, 2024
Tributes to the victims of the devastating attack are seen near the market on December 22
And as the surging AfD party seeks to rally support in the run-up to Germany’s snap federal election, the chair pointedly asked ‘When will this madness end?’
Tempers are strained after it was revealed police were warned about the ‘unstable’ suspect in September last year, but did nothing more than take screenshots of his twisted online threats.
Local outlet Die Welt reported that German state and federal police had carried out a ‘risk assessment’ on al-Abdulmohsen last year but concluded that he posed ‘no specific danger’.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned the ‘terrible, insane’ attack and made a call for national unity amid high political tensions as Germany heads towards February 23 elections.
But as German media dug into al-Abdulmohsen’s past, and investigators gave away little, criticism has rained down from the far-right and far-left parties already bitterly opposed to the Scholz government.
The Saudi suspect, psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities.
News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany’s spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which al-Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a ‘price’ for its treatment of Saudi refugees.
And in August al-Abdulmohsen wrote on social media: ‘Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?… If anyone knows it, please let me know.’
In a post in December last year, he wrote: ‘Germany is the only country – other than Saudi Arabia – that chases female Saudi asylum seekers all over the world to destroy their lives.
‘Revenge will come soon. Even if it costs me my life. I will make the German nation pay the price of the crimes committed by its government against Saudi refugees.’
Police who arrested him almost immediately after the attack said he tested positive for drugs.
Police officers secure the area during the German Chancellor’s visit to the scene of a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg
Clergymen pass by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) and German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a prayer ceremony at the Magdeburg Cathedral on Saturday
Firefighters attend an ecumenical memorial service in the Magdeburg Cathedral
Public workers clean the Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, is empty on Sunday morning , December 22, 2024
Candles, flowers and wreaths sit in front of the entrance to St. John’s Church early on Sunday
The 50-year-old was brought before a judge on Saturday evening, and police said: ‘The judge ordered pre-trial detention for five counts of murder, multiple attempted murder and multiple counts of dangerous bodily harm.’
The prosecutor said that the medic’s grievance about how Germany was treating Saudi dissident asylum seekers was part of the investigation as a possible motive.
Al-Abdulmohsen had bypassed security bollards and used an emergency corridor – which should have been blocked for anything other than ambulances and police vehicles – to enter the market.
Hospital staff rallied around victims of the attack, with 120 nurses and more than 20 doctors voluntarily putting in extra shifts that tragic to treat those who were hurt.
He launched his attack just after 7pm local time in Germany, as thousands of shoppers gathered at the centre of Magdeburg.
Driving slowly at first, the blue SUV turned in to an alleyway where hundreds of shoppers were browsing stalls and sipping mulled wine.
He then pointed his vehicle directly at the crowd and ploughed forward. As shoppers fled in panic, the driver turned another corner and drove out of the market.
An off-duty policeman pursued the BMW until he came to a halt outside Magdeburg shopping centre, where he was arrested at gunpoint by armed officers.
The Saudi suspect, psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities
Many brought candles, wreaths and teddy bears to honour the young victims slain and injured in the deadly attack
Clothes and blankets lie on chairs at the Christmas market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Sunday, December 22, 2024
A woman reported his online threat, made in Arabic, to Berlin police, as well as the German migration authorities but no action was taken.
She said al-Abdulmohsen ‘openly threatened the lives of Germans but police didn’t arrest him or take any action. This could have been prevented if the police had done their job properly.’
There has been increasingly visible hostility towards the German Government as questions remain over whether the authorities ‘ignored’ warnings in advance of the fatal attack, including that police had considered putting al-Abdulmohsen on a ‘dangerous persons’ list previously.
The Chancellor laid a white rose at a church before heading towards his car, but he quickened his step after finding himself being heckled by the disapproving crowd when he visited to pay his respects.
As Germany grieves, anger was also boiling up, with signs that troublesome days lie ahead. More than 1,000 far-Right thugs descended on Magdeburg to protest against the attack, with anger visible on their faces.
Emotions have run high, and Magdeburg has been in deep mourning over the mass carnage on Friday evening.
People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg
The Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, seen abandoned and empty on Saturday
People gather to mourn the victims of a car-ramming attack in Magdeburg, Germany, December 21, 2024
Surgeons have worked around the clock, with one health worker telling local media of ‘blood on the floor everywhere, people screaming, lots of painkillers being administered’.
Police and prosecutors cautioned they were at the beginning of their investigation into what motivated the attack.
Al-Abdulmohsen, who was arrested at the scene next to the heavily damaged car, referred to himself as ‘a Saudi atheist’ in an unpublished interview with AFP from 2022.
As an activist, he helped women flee Gulf countries, and has in the past complained that German authorities were not doing enough to help them.
At the same time, he has criticised the entry of other Muslim migrants and war refugees to Germany and backed conspiracy theories about the planned ‘Islamisation’ of Europe.
The Chancellor and his ministers laid a white rose at a church before leaving the scene
In previous brushes with the law, he was first convicted and fined by a court in the city of Rostock in 2013 for ‘disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes’, according to Der Spiegel.
This year he was investigated in Berlin for the ‘misuse of emergency calls’ after arguing with police at a station in Berlin.
He had been on sick leave since late October from his workplace, a clinic near Magdeburg that treats criminals with substance addiction problems.
The facility said in a statement: ‘The alleged perpetrator is a psychiatric specialist employed in the Bernburg correctional facility, who has been working here since March 2020. However, he has not been on duty since the end of October 2024 due to vacation and illness.’
One day before the attack, al-Abdulmohsen, was due to appear before the Tiergarten district court accused of calling the fire department at the Berlin police station on February 23 this year without there being an emergency. He didn’t show up to court.
The chairwoman of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Mina Ahadi, said that the Saudi suspect ‘is no stranger to us, because he has been terrorising us for years’.
She labelled him ‘a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies’ and said he ‘doesn’t just hate Muslims, but everyone who doesn’t share his hatred.’
It has been reported that the Saudis first warned Germany in 2007 about the suspect.
They raised concerns about his radical views and requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008 but the German authorities refused, citing concern for the man’s welfare.
Saudi authorities alleged that the man had harassed Saudis abroad who opposed his political views.
The local police expressed their ‘heartfelt gratitude’ to emergency services, describing Friday as ‘a very dark day’.
People lay candles and tributes at the site of the tragic attack
Flowers and candles near the Christmas market in Magdeburg
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) has condemned the ‘terrible, insane’ attack and made a call for national unity amid high political tensions as Germany heads towards February 23 elections
Security measures for the Christmas market were last updated in November, and security has been increased since the attack.
A memorial service for victims of the attack was held at Magdeburg Cathedral on Saturday evening.
The service was attended by families of the victims, emergency workers and government officials, including the German Chancellor.
Chancellor Scholz said it was important ‘that we stick together, that we link arms, that it is not hatred that determines our coexistence but the fact that we are a community that seeks a common future’.
The far-right AfD’s parliamentary head Bernd Baumann demanded Scholz call a special session of the Bundestag on the ‘desolate’ security situation, arguing that ‘this is the least that we owe the victims’.
And the head of the far-left BSW party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explain ‘why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand’.
