and we start this out in Germany where a suspect has been arrested after two people including a child have been killed and nearly 70 others injured when a car was driven into crowds at a busy Christmas Market the incident happened in the city of magur which is around 150 km west of Berlin at around 700 p.m. Friday night local time the car hit the crowded area at high speed and is said to have traveled for around 400 m footage from the German broadcaster MDR shows armed police arresting a man at the scene now you can see the armed officer there on the right hand of your screen the man is on the floor by the car on the left hand side of the screen now the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi national who’s lived in Germany for 18 years the authorities say he worked as a doctor had no criminal record and no known links to extremism now officers at the scene initially feared he might have an explosive device but in the last few hours German media have reported that no explosives were found in the car let me take you now to the scene live in magur where it is just after 10:00 in the morning now the entire area around the market is still cordoned off police in the city have set up a hotline for any information about the attack now the German leader Chancellor Olaf Schultz is expected to arrive there in the coming hours we’re also hearing that a memorial service will be held in the city’s Cathedral at around 700 p.m. local time this evening now planned cultural events that includes things like theater Productions have been cancelled for the next few days some state buildings are flying their flags at half mask elsewhere security is being increased at other markets in Germany including in the capital Berlin now we’ll hear from our correspondent at the scene shortly but first this report is from Nick [Music] Johnson cries punctuate the sense of Terror and bewilderment at magder BG’s Christmas Market passes by tend to the injured moments beforehand the market had been teaming with people enjoying the atmosphere Fe in the days before Christmas footage which is too graphic to broadcast appears to show a car deliberately driving at speed into dozens of people between Market stores Emergency Services arrive to help those in any way they can makeshift tents were put up to treat those at the scene hospitals in the area the TOs prepare for a mass casualty event Dorene was at a concert nearby we are shaking we are full of Sympathy for the relatives we hope that nothing has happened to our relatives friends and acquaintances we heard the police sirens which went on for so long we had to assume something terrible had happened it’s a dark day for magur shortly after the attack police detain the driver the German interior Ministry say is a 50-year-old doctor originally from Saudi Arabia and had been resident in Germany for 18 years authorities say around 70 people have been injured some of them seriously this is a terrible tragedy it’s a catastrophe for the city of magur and for Germany in general for this to happen at a Christmas Market is hard to comprehend the German Chancellor Olaf Schultz is expected to visit the scene later and in a post on ex said my thoughts are with the victims and their families We Stand by their side and by the side of the people of magur my thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours following their Bundesliga match Bayern Munich curtailed their on Pitch Christmas ceremony asking the crowd and players for a moment’s silence in its place feel this isn’t the first time people have been killed by a vehicle at a a Christmas Market in Germany in 2016 a man with islamist links crashed into a market in Berlin killing 12 people magder BG’s annual Christmas Market draws tourists from near and far this post on its social media page describes the market as a paradise for children the scene late last night painted a very different picture the city and the country forced to come to terms with what’s happened the survivors compelled to live with what they’ve seen and experienced Nick Johnson BBC News and this is the scene this morning just after 10:00 in the morning in magur you can see some of the police presence there around that Christmas Market uh the police have appealed for witnesses to come forward this morning with any information about the attack things like um videos and photos and anything like that they’ve set up portal so that people in the area can uh submit those they’ve also got a helpline for people looking for information about their relatives because of course there were around 70 people who were injured in this incident in the German City now of course uh the around the world world leaders have expressed shock and grief over the attack the US said that it was horrified the French President Emanuel macron said that he was deeply shocked while the British prime minister sakir St said that he stood with the people of Germany the European commission president Ursula Von delion has condemned what she called the brutal and cowardly act we also mentioned that the suspect is from Saudi Arabia well the foreign Ministry in Saudi condemned the attack to with the kingdom expressing solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims well let’s go live to the scene and our correspondent Damen mcginness is there for us and Daman we’ve seen the live pictures just descried what the scene is like there this morning well this morning it’s somber it’s sad people Milling around looking at the site behind me where the attack happened and indeed officials are describing this as an attack what we can smize from what we’ve seen and having taught people here is that the car drove along this Main Road beside me and then swerved into the Christmas Market uh plowing through the crowds there who are enjoying a festive drink it seemed to uh the car seem to drive through a gap in the concrete blocks uh all Christmas markets in Germany are surrounded by these concrete blocks since a terrible attack in 2016 using a Lor which killed 12 people um and so security traditionally is quite high at Christmas markets in Germany since that attack but of course not high enough because here the security around the Christmas Market there was a gap in those those concrete blocks which was wide enough for the car to drive through and of course the big question is who is the suspect and why did he carry out this terrible act and we’re getting lots more information now about who this man appears to have been and it’s a very complex picture you know a 50-year-old Saudi doctor lived for a long time in Germany had been working here apparently relatively well integrated because having worked as a doctor he must speak good German um and of course a lot of people would have been jumping to the conclusion this could be an islamist extremist attack because that has been what has happened in the past but it could well be exactly the opposite there’s no evidence to say that is the case and looking at his comments online and in the media in the past he has given interviews to German to a prominent German newspaper where he was um highly critical of Islam and saying there’s no such thing as a good Islam and also supportive of the farri afd here in Germany so very complex picture I’m very much not the profile of of the attackers in previous such atrocities and I think that’s what’s what’s making this tragic incident so confusing for people to understand and get their heads around because the motivation is very very unclear right now and interestingly the authorities came out very quickly to say that it was a Saudi man that was the suspect that’s right and until relatively recently you would never in the media and from police statements you would never talk about the nationality of a suspect who was seen as legally not acceptable and morally reprehensible that all changed you know a couple of years ago when officials very quickly started releasing information about uh suspects nationalities and background in order to under undermine conspiracy theories about what was behind such attacks in this particular case yes he seems to be a Saudi national lived in Germany for a long time and um the authorities are also very aware that there have been a lot of conspiracy theories flying around throughout the night particularly on social media talking about other potential attacks talking about other people who he was associated with who were also on the run all of that was incorrect and um I think that’s why as you say police and officials have been very quick to release any information any confirmed information they have about this suspect and about um what exactly happened because the the the the difficulty is with such attacks in the past they have had an impact on the political debate in Germany and of course we have quite a febr political mood here because the governing Coalition collaps in November in February we have snap elections and um lots of people don’t know who to vote for and there is a concern that the far right will will um make make this incident into a political football and will try and win votes on the back of what is frankly a tragedy for people here in murg dami uh thank you very much that’s D mcginness live at the scene let’s talk more about the politics um because Nicole anger is a member of the state Parliament for magur for the leftwing party to Linker she also lives close to the market thank you very much for joining us live on BBC News I know you live very close to the area so what is your reaction to what happened last night uh it is a huge shock it’s a tragedy and we are all in in a deep grief at the moment so I’m just living 12 minutes work away from the place that happened last night and a friend of mine was working there in one of the market dos and um he uh experienced everything very very close and he called last night ask for support to come around and to talk to each other and that’s what we do at the moment we are calling each other asking if everybody’s okay and we um giving each other support and talk to each other just give us a sense of the city and this Christmas Market an annual event that lots of people would go to over the festive period all right um murg is the capital of sexon anhad um about 200 30,000 people are living here and the Christmas Market is a tradition what happens every year we have the huge Market where the tragedy happened and we have some smaller markets around there and usually you go in the afternoon in the evening there have some drinks have some food um meeting friends talking to each other it’s a time of Joy Of Happiness a time of being together and we all enjoy this time before Christmas on the christas market we mentioned the political element of this you’re a member of the state Parliament How concerned are you about some of those rumors from farri groups that were on social media immediately after this incident that’s what happens here usually um the the rightwing extremist um use such um tragedies for their own politics they do not have any grief um for the the lost people um they they just um make um yeah e extremist um Deeds for their own um capitals politics yeah how important going forward when we have the elections is going to be a healthy debate about immigration and the impact that it has on Germany uh indeed it is in no way um helpful for for anyone of us so um what we already know is that the um suspected person is a supporter of the right-wing extremists he’s a follower of the alternativa for doand and that that’s the truth we have to tell that he wanted to destroy a lot of people because he supports this right-wing party Nicole Anger from the State Parliament uh group uh that is in Parliament Del Linka thank you very much indeed for your time and of course we are expecting a lot more reaction from the authorities later the German leader Olaf Schultz is expected to attend a memorial event in the city of magur later now we have a team of correspondents in Germany who are following all the developments and they are posting on the BBC News website
A car runs over crowds at a German Christmas market
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