A service for the victims of the Friday attack on the Christmas markets there, which left at least five dead and more than 200 injured, was held in Magdeburg Cathedral on Saturday evening, attended by several hundred people. This was reported by the DPA agency.
The service was mainly attended by relatives of the victims, rescuers and other invited guests, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Hundreds more gathered in front of the cathedral to watch the service on a big screen. People placed candles and flowers at the side portal of the cathedral.
At the time of the service, several hundred supporters of the extreme right gathered in the square in the center of Magdeburg, chanting slogans such as “We are the people”, the weekly Der Spiegel reported on its website. A banner reading “re-emigration” was also seen, a reference to the concept by which right-wing extremists usually mean the removal of large numbers of people of foreign origin to their homeland, even involuntarily.
According to Spiegel, the editor of the public television ARD Thomas Vorreyer informed on platform X that the neo-Nazi Thorsten Heise, who is in the leadership of the party Die Heimat (Motherland), which is described as extremist and partially neo-Nazi, also spoke at the rally. According to Vorreyer, Heise shouted “Germany, wake up from your bad dream” during the demonstration, a reference to the Nazi slogan “Germany, wake up” (Deutschland, erwache!) still used in neo-Nazi circles. Heise also demanded the deportation of politicians responsible for the Magdeburg tragedy.
What do we know about the attacker?
In Magdeburg on Friday evening, a car drove into a crowd of people at the Christmas markets. The vehicle was driven by a 50-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia, who is in custody. According to information from the DPA agency, he has been living in Germany since 2006 and describes himself as a former Muslim. He applied for asylum in February 2016, and his application was decided in July of the same year. He received asylum as a politically persecuted person. He worked as a doctor in nearby Bernburg.
The magazine Der Spiegel reported without further details that he is a supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He referred to himself as a “Saudi atheist” on social media and used strong anti-Islamic rhetoric and statements close to the extreme right. He accused the German government of planning to “Islamize Europe”.
