Swiss president is ‘shocked’ by attack on German Christmas market
President Amherd is "shocked" by the crime in Magdeburg
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss president is ‘shocked’ by attack on German Christmas market
Swiss President Viola Amherd has expressed shock at the attack in Magdeburg, Germany on Friday. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Amherd wrote on the social media site X. Switzerland stands by Germany in these difficult times.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA/SRF
Deutsch
de
Bundespräsidentin Amherd ist “erschüttert” über Tat in Magdeburg
Original
At least four people have died and more than 40 people were injured after a man drove into a crowd at the Magdeburg Christmas market. At least one young child died in the attack. Some German media reported 200 injured.
“This is a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg, for the state and for Germany in general,” said Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The police arrested a man at the scene. He is a doctor who lives and works in Bernburg.
State Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang said that the man was from Saudi Arabia, had first come to Germany in 2006 and had a permanent residence permit. The police motives of the arrested suspect for the alleged attack are still unclear.
According to media reports, the alleged perpetrator is said to have developed into a radical critic of Islam in Germany and was looking for like-minded people. According to researchExternal link by the German paper Der Spiegel, on the suspect’s account on X he sympathised with the far right AfD party and dreamed of a joint project with the party.
According to Haseloff, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday.
Eight years earlier
Almost eight years ago to the day, on December 19, 2016, an Islamist terrorist drove a hijacked truck into the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. Twelve people were killed, the 13th victim died as a result in 2021. More than 70 people were injured. The attacker fled to Italy, where he was shot dead by the police.
Police in other cities with Christmas markets are now also being particularly vigilant. In Stuttgart, a police spokesman said that police forces had been sensitised on the ground. In Berlin, a spokesperson said that officers had been called upon to pay increased attention to Christmas markets.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Pope was a person full of respect: Swiss president
This content was published on
Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who is attending the funeral of Pope Francis, says the pontiff was always full of respect.
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
Swiss NGOs abroad to receive 10% less federal funding
This content was published on
In 2025 and 2026, Swiss NGOs will have 10% less federal funding available for international cooperation than in the previous two-year period.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.