German authorities have charged the suspect in Friday's deadly attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, which killed five people and injured 200, police said early this morning, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The suspect, identified as Taleb A. under German privacy laws, is charged with five murders, multiple attempted murders and causing serious bodily harm to more than one person.
He remains in pretrial detention, police said. The suspect appeared in court last night.
The victims of the attack were a 9-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75.
Hundreds of Germans, including far-right figures, gathered in Magdeburg to pay their respects, DPA and the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The mourners were waiting for the memorial service at the city's cathedral, intended mainly for the victims' relatives, as well as emergency workers and invited guests, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Large crowds of people who were not allowed to attend the service gathered outside the church to watch the ceremony on a big screen. People laid flowers and lit candles.
Several hundred people also gathered in the city's central square, some carrying banners with far-right slogans. Some chanted "We are the people".
The suspect in Friday's attack is a 50-year-old Saudi man who describes himself as an activist critical of Islam. His motives are still unclear, the DPA noted.
The suspect appears to have been an active user of "Ex", sharing dozens of anti-Islamic tweets and retweets daily, criticizing religion and congratulating Muslims who have left the faith, the Associated Press noted. He has also accused German authorities of not doing enough to combat what he calls the "Islamization of Europe".
The violence shocked Germany and residents of Magdeburg, the capital of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, by tarnishing the centuries-old German tradition of Christmas markets. Several other towns canceled their Christmas markets over the weekend as a precaution and in solidarity with the loss in Magdeburg.
Berlin kept its many Christmas markets open but increased police presence at them, the AP notes.
The Frankfurt Christmas Market in the British city of Birmingham, one of the largest in Britain, said it had reviewed its security procedures and consulted a police security advisor after the attack in Magdeburg, DPA reported.
The suspect in the bloody attack acted alone, police said, quoted by DPA and BTA.
Based on the information gathered from the investigation, the presence of an accomplice or accomplices can be ruled out, a law enforcement spokesman said at a press conference in Magdeburg.
The suspect who drove a car into the crowd of The gunman who drove into a Christmas market in the central German city last night, killing five people and injuring about 200, used a route designated for ambulances and other emergency vehicles to reach the city's main square, which is otherwise inaccessible by car, said Tom-Oliver Langhans, the local police chief.
The attack lasted about three minutes, he added.
According to authorities, the five dead included four adults and a nine-year-old child.
The motive for the attacker's actions remains unknown, but his anger at Germany's treatment of Saudi refugees may have played a role, prosecutors said at the same briefing, quoted by Reuters.
The prosecutor's office is preparing charges against him on five counts of premeditated murder and 205 counts of attempted premeditated murder. murder.
The suspect was an Islamophobe, Interior Minister Nancy Feser confirmed to reporters, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
"This is obvious", she commented to the media. Feser refused to give specifics about the man's political affiliation. Today, the Interior Minister visited the Christmas market in Magdeburg, a city in Central Germany, once part of the former GDR, where last night's attack took place, together with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to DPA, the 50-year-old suspect, who has lived in Germany since 2006, described himself as a former Muslim. Haseloff said the site "will forever remain connected to the history of Magdeburg." "It will be remembered as a memorable place for the history of the city," he added during a visit to the scene. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also arrived at the scene of the incident.