German police have charged a Saudi man with murder and attempted murder in connection with the killing of at least five people and hundreds of injuries after he drove a car into a busy Christmas market.
Following the incident in the central town of Magdeburg on Friday night, the suspect, who was identified by German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist who came to Germany in 2006, was placed under detention in custody late on Saturday.
In a statement on Sunday, police stated prosecutors charged Abdulmohsen, an anti-Islam activist with an extensive record of conflicts with state authorities and a history of threatening German civilians with death online, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
The deceased were identified as four women and a nine-year-old kid.
German govt faces questions over Christmas market attack
Meanwhile, a far-right event dubbed a “demonstration against terror” drew 2,100 attendees. Wearing black balaclavas, protesters at the event were captured on camera brandishing a giant banner that read “remigration,” a term that is used among anti-immigration extremists who want to deport migrants and others who are thought to be non-German.
Thee government is coming under increasing pressure if more efforts could have been taken to halt the attack, which wounded over 205 people, including 40 people facing critical condition. 'Also Read: Who is Taleb al-Abdulmohsen? A look at Germany Christmas market attack suspect's radical views and social media activity
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen made online death threats against German citizens
{{/usCountry}}Thee government is coming under increasing pressure if more efforts could have been taken to halt the attack, which wounded over 205 people, including 40 people facing critical condition. 'Also Read: Who is Taleb al-Abdulmohsen? A look at Germany Christmas market attack suspect's radical views and social media activity
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen made online death threats against German citizens
{{/usCountry}}Abdulmohsen, who is an anti-Islamic activist, has been residing in Germany for nearly twenty years.
The suspect had previously threatened German civilians online and had a history of clashing with state officials, according to many media reports. A year ago, the Saudi secret service alerted Germany's espionage agency BND about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened to charge Germany with paying a “price” for its treatment of Saudi migrants, as per a report published in the magazine Der Spiegel.
Taking to X in August, Abdulmohsen asked, “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.”
Citing security sources, Die Welt daily reported that German state and federal police conducted a “risk assessment” on Abdulmohsen last year, declaring that Abdulmohsen posed “no specific danger”.