The driver was arrested at the scene shortly after the car barreled into the market at around 7 p. Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect surrender.
He stood in a sidewalk in the middle of the road and put his hands up before lying down and waiting for armed officers to take him into custody. The suspect is a year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in , Tamara Zieschang, the interior minister for the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said at a news conference. He has been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers 25 miles south of Magdeburg, she said.
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy. Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world.
In Berlin alone, more than markets opened late last month and brought the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital.
Other markets abound across the country. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant. Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The attack reverberated far beyond Magdeburg, with Haseloff calling it a catastrophe for the city, state and country.
