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.
‘We are shaking’: Residents describe sickening noise of crash
Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told German news agency dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The noise was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened”.
She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.
“We are shaking,” Ms Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”
Emergency services barricade area after driver ploughs into German Christmas market
Eyewitness describes ‘war-like conditions’
In the aftermath of the attack, an anonymous eyewitness told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung newspaper that the perpetrator drove into the ‘Fairy Tale’ area of the Magdeburg Christmas market, and that there were many families present. She and her child were able to jump to the side of the vehicle.
A restaurateur said that the driver raced directly past his burger stand, describing the conditions as “war-like”.
No specific intelligence indicating a threat to Christmas markets in UK, report says
While at least one Christmas market in the UK has reviewed its safety protocols in light of the attack in Magdeburg, the Press Association reports that there is no specific intelligence indicating a threat to Christmas markets in Britain.
The threat level for the whole of the UK remains at substantial, meaning an attack is likely.
Firefighter raced to scene of the attack to help
A firefighter told how he rushed to the market to help after he heard about the attack.
“It was like something out of a bad movie,” 22-year-old Johannes told German newspaper Bild.
“I ran through the devastated market, people were lying on the left and right. And the only thing that went through my mind was: who am I going to help now? I then grabbed the injured people who didn’t have anyone with them and took them to the appropriate treatment areas.
“With a permanent marker, I wrote the words green, yellow or red on the injured people’s faces, depending on how severe their injuries were.
“The people in Magdeburg are in shock. But at the same time, they have shown that they are there for each other. I was proud when I saw how many helpers came together in such a short space of time.”
Opinion | Whatever the aim, the Germany attack will surely make the West more divided
Historian Mark Almond writes:
Germany’s rapidly growing economic and social dislocation in recent years has tended to make migration – strictly speaking unrelated – the touchstone issue in its coming general election on 23 February.
The facts of the Magdeburg case are likely to be lost. For too many people and politicians, the identity of the suspect as an Arab will be enough.
In any case, the issue, as opposed to the facts, was already being internationalised.
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
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.”
Full report: German city mourns as death toll rises following market attack just days before Christmas
The German city of Magdeburg is in a state of mourning following an attack on a busy Christmas market which killed at least five people and left hundreds more injured.
Tributes piled up on Saturday as state leaders visited the site of the attack where a driver rammed a car into crowds at around 7pm on Friday.
My colleague Athena Stavrou has the full report:
German city mourns as death toll rises following attack just days before Christmas
Magdeburg in grief as at least five people are killed in attack on bustling market
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.
UK Christmas market has reviewed its security in wake of Magdeburg attack
One of the UK’s biggest Christmas markets said it has reviewed its security processes in the wake of the attack on a German Christmas market which left five people dead and more than 200 injured.
Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market’s security processes were reviewed and discussed with a police security adviser after a BMW ploughed into customers at the busy festive market in Magdeburg on Friday evening.
It said no changes are required and all staff remain vigilant.
UK Christmas market has reviewed its security in wake of Magdeburg attack
Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market’s security processes were reviewed but no changes were required.