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“I feel bad, I still do,” said Eidwicht, as she stood in the Christmas market close to the spot where the car sped through on Friday, killing five people and injuring more than 200 others.
“My granddaughter was here. I rang her because my daughter told me that something had happened here. And she didn’t answer for two hours.”
“There is deep sadness here – and anger directed at the government and migrants. ‘It can’t go on like this,’ said Eidwicht.
A Saudi refugee aged 50 has been arrested for the attack but the motive is unknown.
Officials say Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, was an “untypical” attacker. Germany’s Christmas markets and festivals have come under attack before, mainly from extreme Islamists.
He has been described as critical of Islam and he also voiced support on social media for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, hailing the party for fighting the same enemy as him “to protect Germany”.
The AfD has not commented on those posts. The party held a rally in Magdeburg later on Monday where co-leader Alice Weidel called for change “so we can finally live once again in security”. The crowd responded with calls of “deport them” according to news agencies.
Her party is currently riding high in the opinion polls ahead of federal elections on 23 February, especially in states like Saxony-Anhalt in the former East Germany.
This attack has brought two big election issues to the fore, security and immigration, and AfD figures have highlighted both since the attack.
Despite the suspect’s many statements expressing hostility to Islam, the head of the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, said in a statement “the attack in Magdeburg shows that Germany is being drawn into political and religious fanaticism that has its origins in another world”.
In a post on X, Weidel said the government’s discussion of new security laws following the attack “must not distract from the fact that Magdeburg would not have been possible without uncontrolled migration. The state must protect its citizens through a restrictive migration policy and consistent deportations!”
Germans are asking how the attack could have happened, when security was already heightened at Christmas markets and when authorities had clearly investigated the suspect several times in recent years.
The threat he posed was considered “too unspecific”, according to one assessment, while one tip-off against him in September 2023 appears to have fallen through the cracks.
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