Germans have gathered in Magdeburg to mourn the victims of a car-ramming attack in the eastern city that killed at least five people and injured 200.

Authorities said a doctor drove into the busy outdoor Christmas market on Friday evening, killing four adults and a nine-year-old child, and wounding 41 people badly enough that the death toll could rise.

Church bells rang out in the city at 7:04pm (18:04 GMT) on Saturday, the exact time of the attack the evening prior.

A memorial service took place in the city’s cathedral, intended mainly for relatives of the victims, as well as emergency responders and invited guests, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Those who were not allowed to attend the service gathered outside the church to watch it on a large screen.

Several hundred people also gathered on the city’s central square, some laying flowers and lighting candles.

The crowds also included those carrying banners with far-right slogans.

Far-right demonstrators take part in a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 20, 2024 [Christian Mang/Reuters]

The violence has shocked the German city of about 240,000 people 130km (80 miles) west of Berlin.

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It led several other places in Germany to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.

Berlin kept its many markets open but increased its police presence at them.

Probe into motive continues

The suspect is a 50-year-old immigrant from Saudi Arabia who described himself as an Islam-critical activist and who surrendered to police at the scene.

The suspect is being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said at a news conference.

Investigators are looking into whether the attack could have been motivated by the doctor’s dissatisfaction with the way Germany treats Saudi refugees, Nopens said.

Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Posts on the suspect’s X account, verified by the Reuters news agency, suggested he supported anti-Islam and far-right parties, including Alternative for Germany.

A Saudi source told the agency that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the suspect after he posted “extremist” views on his X account that threatened peace and security.

A risk assessment conducted last year by German state and federal criminal investigators came to the conclusion that the man posed “no specific danger”, the Welt newspaper reported, quoting security sources.

Closed stalls stand at the site where a car drove into a crowd at a Magdeburg Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany [Christian Mang/Reuters]

Germany has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.

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Friday’s attack also came eight years after a man drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.