Thursday morning, a 24 -year -old Afghan refugee participated in a union demonstration in the center of Munich, injuring nearly 40 people. Police said they are investigating if the driver, who admitted a deliberate attack, acted alone. The attack occurred only 10 days before the federal elections which focused on migration, and the accident could be looming in the last days of the campaign.
What happened during the attack?
Around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the police of a police cruiser at the end of a Union march in the center of Munich noticed a mini-caoper from behind. The car accelerated to pass the cruiser and plowed at the back of the walkers. Witnesses said they heard the mini review when he went to the crowd. The police pulled a single shot by going to stop the driver.
The ambulances and a helicopter arrived at the scene. The police installed a temporary position in a neighboring restaurant, where they asked witnesses to come forward and created an online portal to download any video or photos of the attack. The agents also used dogs to search the car.
In the evening, the damaged car was raised on a flat and supplied tow truck.
Who were the victims?
Police said on Friday 36 people had been injured, including several children. A 12 -year -old girl, who was seriously questioned, was still in intensive care.
The car entered a crowd of union members and supporters and their families. Verdi, one of the largest unions in Germany, had called a one -day strike for certain public sector workers, including those employed in daycare, garbage collection and city administration.
The 1,500 walkers were accompanied by police officers while walking in a public street.
What do we know about the suspect?
The man came to Germany as a minor not accompanied in 2016, according to the authorities. During his asylum request, he said that his father had been murdered in Afghanistan and that the killers were looking for him. The authorities did not believe in his testimony at the time and did not give him the status of official asylum. In a standard bureaucratic round, the city of Munich granted man a temporary residence permit in 2021, which allowed him to access the possibilities of education and to work. The man, whom the authorities have appointed Farhad N., in accordance with strict confidentiality directives, frequented school and finally began working in retail for two private companies.
Unlike other suspects in apparently random attacks, MN seemed to be largely integrated into German society and was not known to the authorities for violence or crimes. He held a job and rented an apartment in Munich. He was a bodybuilder and had relatively important follow -up on Instagram and Tiktok, where he presented himself as a fitness model, the Munich public prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
The office was investigating him about the suspicion of 36 counts of attempted homicide and causing dangerous bodily lesions. After the driver confessed to the attack, the authorities said they thought they had religious reasons and an “Islamist orientation”.
Investigators said they had found a message on his mobile phone in which he had said goodbye to a loved one, saying, “I might not be there tomorrow.”
However, the investigators, still painting through his digital devices, said they had not found any link with the Islamic State or other terrorist organizations.
Why is this attack on a wink in Germany?
It is at least the fifth major random attack by a Middle East or Afghan migrant in the past nine months. At the end of May, an Afghan migrant killed a police officer and injured several participants in a far -right demonstration in Mannheim. In August, a Syrian refugee killed three and injured eight in a wave of stabs in Solingen. In December, a man from Saudi Arabia used an SUV to kill six people and hurt 300 by driving in a Christmas market in Magdeburg. Last month, an Afghan refugee suffering from an apparent mental illness used a kitchen knife to kill a toddler and a man who rushed to help in a park in the city of a small town in Bavaria.
These attacks have helped to increase the popularity of the extreme right alternative for the German party, known as AFD, which has made limiting migration one of its key plates. Last month, Friedrich Merz, who directed conservative Christian Democrats and should be the next Chancellor of Germany, broke a taboo by voting in Parliament with AFD on migration measures. While he was criticized by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who went down to the streets shortly after, his vote showed how the question of limiting immigration has become common, even if the number of those who Search for asylum research fell.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that the striker should be punished and sent back to Afghanistan.
