German Christmas market attack – latest: Nine-year-old boy killed is named as thousands raised on GoFundMe
Nine-year-old child among five dead with 200 other people injured in attack, including 40 critical
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Your support makes all the difference.The nine-year-old boy who is among five people killed in the car-ramming attack on a German Christmas market has been named, as thousands of pounds were raised for his grieving family.
In a heartbreaking social media post, the mother of André Gleißner paid tribute to her son, saying: “Let my little teddy bear fly around the world again. André didn’t do anything to anybody. He was only with us on earth for nine years. Why you? Just why?”
A GoFundMe page set up to support the family has already raised close to £50,000, with its organisers describing André as having a “cheerful smile and joy for life” and lamenting that he will never be able to open his Christmas presents.
Meanwhile, the Saudi doctor accused of driving into the market in Magdeburg has appeared in court, as anger over alleged security failings grows.
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was remanded in police custody after appearing in front of a judge on Saturday evening.
In a statement, Magdeburg police said: “The judge ordered pre-trial detention for five counts of murder, multiple attempted murder and multiple counts of dangerous bodily harm,” its statement said.
Witness says husband spent hours helping attack victims
Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is situated close to the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs that she thought were fireworks.
She then saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
Shaking as she described what she had witnessed, the 34-year-old recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
“My husband and I helped [those injured] for two hours,” she told the Associated Press. “He ran back home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold.”
50% rise in reports to anti-terror hotline in UK this year, police say
Earlier this week, Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell said police are “relying on the public” to spot suspected terror activity during the festive period, as this year has seen a 50 per cent rise in suspicious activity reports made to the anti-terror hotline.
The cause of the spike is uncertain but contacts are making a difference to investigations, according to Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP).
There were 52 more arrests for terrorism offences last year than in 2022 – an increase of 31 per cent and the highest number in a single year since 2019.
Christmas shopping, festive markets, pantomimes and concerts could attract terror activity, CTP warned, as it reminded people “everyone has a role to play in keeping each other safe” by spotting and reporting suspicious activity.
CTP previously said it had more than 800 investigations under way, most in partnership with MI5, and that it was working with intelligence services at MI5 and GCHQ to understand and prevent radicalisation.
It has stopped 43 late-stage attacks from taking place alongside MI5, three of which were in the last 12 months.
Who is the German Christmas market attack suspect?
The suspect is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, named by German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen. On Saturday evening, he was remanded into custody after appearing in court.
Authorities confirmed that he first came to Germany in 2006 and later gained refugee status in 2016.
Local media reported that he had shown support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), with a Saudi source telling Reuters that the kingdom had warned German authorities about the attacker, who the source said had posted extremist views on his personal X account.
A German security source told the news agency that tips sent by the Saudi authorities in 2023 and 2024 had been passed on to the relevant authorities. Newspaper Die Welt cited security sources as saying that a risk assessment conducted by state and federal investigators concluded that the man posed “no specific danger”.
My colleague Athena Stavrou has more details in this report:
Who is German Christmas market attack suspect? Saudi doctor and far-right supporter
Police arrested a 50-year-old man after a car was driven into a crowd of people at a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday night
Whatever the aim, the German Christmas market attack will surely make the West more divided
The confounding picture of Taleb A. makes his aims while behind the wheel on Friday night all the more muddy. But for too many people and politicians, the identity of the perpetrator as an Arab will be enough, Mark Almond writes:
Whatever the aim, the German Christmas market attack will make the West more divided
The confounding picture of Taleb A. makes his aims while behind the wheel on Friday night all the more muddy. But for too many people and politicians, the identity of the perpetrator as an Arab will be enough, Mark Almond writes
Suspect had not worked since October
The clinic where the suspect is believed to have worked released a statement following Friday night’s attack.
Posting on Instagram, the Salus-Fachklinikum Bernburg clinic said it was “shocked to learn that the alleged perpetrator worked as a specialist doctor in our enforcement in Bernburg”.
It added that the suspect had been employed there as a psychiatric specialist since March 2020, but he had not been working since October due to illness and holiday.
“We have been supporting the work of the investigative authorities in every possible way since the late hours,” it added.
Germany’s foreign minister says Christmas markets must be ‘places of solidarity'
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has stressed that Christmas markets should continue to be “places of solidarity and togetherness in society”, in comments to the dpa press agency.
The attack at Magdeburg has prompted several other towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity. Berlin – which suffered a 2016 attack at a church market in which 12 people were killed and 49 injured – kept its markets open but increased the police presence.
Germany’s interior minister calls for tighter domestic security laws
Germany’s interior minister has called for parliament to urgently adopt drafted laws to tighten domestic security in the country.
Speaking to the Spiegel newspaper, Nancy Faeser said: “It is clear that we must do everything we can to protect the people of Germany from such horrific acts of violence. To do this, our security authorities need all the necessary powers and more personnel.”
Gun laws and security powers were tightened following August’s mass stabbing in Solingen, in which three people were killed and for which Isis claimed responsibility. However, Ms Faeser claimed further legislation such as a new federal police act and moves to introduce biometric surveillance were blocked primarily by her former coalition partners in the FDP.
“All of these bills of ours could be passed immediately if the Union and FDP do not refuse to do so,” Ms Faeser claimed, despite her party having lost its parliamentary majority ahead of the new year and looming elections in February.
Nine-year-old victim’s family to share fundraiser proceeds with fellow bereaved and survivors
The family of nine-year-old André Gleissner will share the proceeds of an online fundraiser with the families of other victims, after a GoFundMe set up by a family friend raised tens of thousands of pounds.
Describing André’s family as “simply overwhelmed” by the donations, which are to help towards funeral costs, the page’s organiser initially paused the fundraiser after “so much money was raised that we never expected”.
But in a later update, the organiser said they had reopened the option to donate after receiving a flood of requests from members of the public who wished to do so, adding that André’s family intend to pass on a large part of the donations to the other victims who died or were injured in the attack.
The fundraiser has so far raised nearly €65,000 (£53,000).
Perpetrator ‘does not fit any existing mould’, minister says
Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser has vowed that the criminal investigation into Friday’s attack would leave no stone unturned.
“The task is to piece together all findings and paint a picture of this perpetrator, who does not fit any existing mould,” Ms Faeser said.
“This perpetrator acted in an unbelievably cruel and brutal manner – like an Islamist terrorist, although he was clearly ideologically hostile to Islam,” she added.
The suspect had been strongly critical of German authorities as well as Islam in the past. He had also appeared in a number of media interviews in recent years reporting on his work helping Saudi Arabians who had turned their back on Islam to flee to Europe.
He had voiced support on social media platform X for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and for US billionaire Elon Musk, who has backed the AfD.
Sea of floral tributes laid at church close to scene of attack
A sea of flowers stretched out in front of St John’s Church in Magdeburg, close to the scene of the crime, which attracted a steady stream of tearful mourners over the weekend.
“This is my second time here. I was here yesterday. I brought flowers and it moved me so much and I had to know today how many flowers were brought,” local resident Ingolf Klinzmann told Reuters.
A sign commemorating the victims bore in large lettering the word “Why?”.
