‘Germany stands in dark hours with Magdeburg’: Memorial service held for Christmas market attack victims

A memorial service has taken place in Magdeburg, Germany, for the victims of a Christmas market attack.

At least five people were killed and more than 200 others injured when a car ploughed into crowds shopping on Friday evening.

Among those attending the service in the city’s cathedral was Chancellor Olaf Scholz, interior minister Nancy Faeser and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

In a post on X, Mr Scholz described it as a “moving moment of compassion and solidarity for a deeply affected city”.

“The whole of Germany stands in these dark hours with the people of Magdeburg,” he wrote.

Magdeburg marked the tragedy on Saturday with the cathedral bells tolling at 7.04pm local time (6.04pm UK time), exactly 24 hours after the attack.

German football also paid tribute to the victims with silences before Bundesliga games on Saturday evening.

Earlier, while visiting the scene of the atrocity, Mr Scholz said: “There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market.

“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”

Read more:
What we know about attack so far
Magdeburg in shock as it tries to make sense of the senseless

Young child among the dead

Four adults and a nine-year-old child were killed when a black BMW was driven into people at the Christmas market.

Of those injured, 41 are said to be seriously hurt, and authorities have warned the number of dead could rise.

Meanwhile, a man is being questioned by police after being arrested at the scene.

He has been named by German media as Taleb A, with his surname being withheld in line with privacy laws, although the name has not been confirmed by German authorities.

Saudi suspect being held

The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who worked as a doctor and arrived in Germany in 2006, premier of Saxony-Anhalt state Reiner Haseloff said.

Taleb A is being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said.

The motive for the atrocity is not yet known.

Investigators are looking into whether the attack could have been motivated by the suspect’s dissatisfaction with how Germany treats Saudi refugees, Mr Nopens added.

Interior minister Nancy Faeser told reporters it was “clear” the suspect was “Islamophobic”.

Residents in Magdeburg told Sky’s Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins they are “shocked” and “traumatised” by the attack.

One woman said she “can’t find words to describe how traumatised we are”.

“We need a lot of time to process what happened,” she said.

‘Show solidarity’

She added she wanted to attend the memorial service to “show solidarity” with others in the city and “feel collective support”.

“In such a tragedy the only thing that can help us to absorb and to process everything is to be around each other and to show our solidarity, not just with words but actions.”

Narrow escape

Andrea Reis, 57, and her daughter Julia, 34, had been at the market on Friday evening and had a narrow escape.

They could have been in the path of the car but Julia had wanted to keep walking around the market rather than stop to eat.

Andrea said: “It was the terrible sounds, children calling ‘mama, papa’, ‘help me’ – they’re going round in my head now.”

Although many people went to the site on Saturday with candles to mourn the victims, several hundred far-right protesters gathered in a central square in Magdeburg with a banner that read “remigration”, reported news agency dpa.