Magdeburg honored those killed in a hit-and-run at a Christmas market

Several hundred people in Magdeburg came to honor the memory of the victims of a hit-and-run collision with visitors to a Christmas fair. This was reported on December 23 by the Associated Press (AP).

The initiative group "Do not give hate a chance" called for the event. Those gathered held candles in their hands, applauded emergency workers and thanked rescuers.

At the same time, the Alternative for Germany (AdG) party organized a rally in Magdeburg's Cathedral Square. Co-chair of the party and candidate for Chancellor Alice Weidel said that after the mourning comes a time of reconciliation with the past. At the same time the participants of the rally did not stop chanting slogans about deportation of non-naturalized residents of Germany.

What happened in Magdeburg: a car drove into the crowd at the Christmas fair

There are dead and wounded

In the evening of December 20, a car crashed into a crowd of people at a fair in Magdeburg. In addition to the five dead, more than 200 people were injured, the condition of many is assessed as extremely serious. The authorities consider what happened as a terrorist attack.

Soon the suspect was detained - a native of Saudi Arabia born in 1974. The police specified that he most likely acted alone. Information about the presence of an explosive device in his car was not confirmed. According to the newspaper Bild, in the blood of the man found drugs. He explained his actions by the poor treatment of refugees from his country by the German authorities.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev expressed their condolences to the families of the victims.

Scholz visited the site of the tragedy on Dec. 21 and said it was important to investigate the terrorist attack, as well as to preserve the unity of the nation during a difficult period. At the same time, he and Interior Minister Nancy Feather were booed in Magdeburg. In a conversation with Izvestia, residents of the city criticized the policies of Scholz and the country's government, while the Alternative for Germany (AdG) party called for an urgent meeting of the Bundestag in connection with the incident in the city.