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See aftermath of car ramming incident in Munich hours before world leaders arrive
01:11 – Source: CNN
See aftermath of car ramming incident in Munich hours before world leaders arrive
01:11
Munich, Germany CNN —
A car plowed into demonstrators in Munich on Thursday injuring at least 28 people, in what a local official said was a suspected attack, shortly before world leaders were due in the southern German city for a high-level security conference.
The suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, Munich police director, Christian Huber, told reporters. Bavarian governor Markus Söder said the incident “is suspected to be an attack.”
Police will investigate how far along the suspect was in his asylum application, spokesperson Thomas Schelshorn told CNN. “What motive the perpetrator had, to drive into this crowd with a vehicle, has to be now found out,” he said, adding that officers will conduct witness interviews and forensics “to get a picture at the end of what could have been behind this.”
The incident comes during an election campaign that has seen immigration and security emerge as key issues after several similar attacks.
Authorities launched a major operation near the city’s central train station, a spokesperson said. Police detained the driver and did not consider him a further threat, the force said in a post on X. Children were among those injured, according to the city’s mayor, Dieter Reiter.
Schelshorn told CNN that some of the casualties are “seriously” injured. “When I talk about gravely injured people, this also involves people where there’s a fear if they will survive,” he reflected.
The man was known to officials in connection with theft and drug offenses, the Associated Press reported, citing Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance and other top diplomats will attend the Munich Security Conference, about 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) from the location of Thursday’s incident.
Local security measures have been bolstered due to the conference, authorities said, with at least 5,000 police officers on duty this weekend.
The car hit a group of protesters staging a demonstration linked to a strike organized by the Verdi union, according to local broadcaster BR24. Verdi is the key trade union for Germany’s public sector.
Those on the picket line were employees for local childcare services, according to the union, which organized the rally after negotiations for federal and local public service wages had stalled. Verdi said it had no further information on the incident.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters that the car, a cream Mini Cooper, was seen weaving between police vehicles and picking up pace before ramming several people.
“It seemed to me that the car accelerated before it drove into the crowd,” said Alexa Graefe.
One person said police shot at the car. “I saw that a man was lying underneath the car,” the eyewitness told German program BR24. “Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked.”
Eventually, the eyewitness retreated and turned to those injured, BR24 reported.
Söder, the Bavarian governor, described the suspected attack as “simply terrible,” adding that “something has to change in Germany, and quickly.”
“We feel for the victims and hope very much that everyone will make it,” he told journalists on Thursday. “We all regret what has just happened here.”
The mayor of the Bavarian city said he was was shocked by the incident, German newspaper Bild reported. “The police president has informed me that a vehicle drove into a group of people and many people were injured,” said Reiter. “I am deeply shaken. My thoughts are with the injured.”
Germany has been roiled by divisive rhetoric over the country’s immigration policy, in a nation expected to swing to the right in national elections later this month.
The country’s parliament rejected an opposition draft law cracking down on immigration policy in January. Days earlier, the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) were accused of breaking an agreement against cooperating with the far-right.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has gained momentum after capitalizing on growing anti-immigration sentiment among some voters – following a string of deadly attacks allegedly perpetrated by migrants last winter.
AfD party co-leader, Alice Weidel, referred to the suspect as a “terror-driver.” Police in Munich have not declared the suspect’s motive is terror-related.
“The terror-driver from Munich was a police-known Afghan asylum-seeker,” Weidel said in a post on X, without giving any evidence. “The victims and their relatives have my deepest sympathies. Should this continue forever? Migration change now!”
Söder said that receiving the news that another perpetrator had ploughed into a crowd of people with a vehicle, injuring many, felt like a “slap in the face.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “shocked by a terrible attack” in Munich. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. The perpetrator must feel the full force of the rule of law,” he said in a post on X.
Attacks on asylum-seekers and other marginalized communities have spiked over the past year, in the face of increasingly “racist and anti-migrant narratives” in Germany, according to Human Rights Watch.
Just a day before the incident in Munich – a German national was held over a foiled bomb attack plot on a temporary shelter for asylum-seekers in the eastern city of Brandenberg, according to the public prosecutor’s office in Dresden.
Sebastian Shukla reported from Munich, Sana Noor Haq and Sophie Tanno reported and wrote from London. CNN’s Nina Avramova contributed reporting.