A man accused of driving a car into crowds at a German Christmas market, killing five people and injuring more than 200, has been detained on multiple charges of murder and attempted murder.

The Magdeburg police department said in a statement on Sunday the man had been issued a warrant for pre-trial detention on charges of murder on five counts as well as multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

Those killed were a nine-year-old boy and four women aged 52, 45, 75 and 67, the police statement said. Among the wounded, about 40 had serious or critical injuries.

Authorities reported that the suspected attacker used emergency exit routes to access the Christmas market grounds, where he accelerated and drove into the crowds, striking more than 200 people in a three-minute rampage. He was arrested at the scene.

Simmering tensions

The attack on Friday evening in the central city of Magdeburg shocked Germany and reignited simmering tensions around the issue of migration.

The suspect, who was named as Taleb A, is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islam rhetoric, who has resided in Germany for nearly two decades.

The motive for the attack remains unclear, but the Magdeburg prosecutor, Horst Nopens, said on Saturday that one possible factor could be what he called the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees.

The suspected attacker had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities, leading German media to question whether the government could have done more to prevent the attack.

News magazine Der Spiegel, quoting security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany’s spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Taleb threatened Germany would pay a “price” for its treatment of Saudi refugees.

And in August he wrote on social media: “Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?… If anyone knows it, please let me know.”

The Die Welt daily reported, also quoting security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a “risk assessment” on Taleb last year but concluded that he posed “no specific danger”.

Emboldening the far right

Police reported scuffles and “minor disturbances” during a far-right demonstration in Magdeburg on Saturday night, attended by approximately 2,100 people.

Protesters, some wearing black balaclavas, held a large banner reading “remigration”, a term used by far-right supporters advocating for the mass deportation of immigrants and individuals considered not ethnically German.

The incident comes before a pivotal election in Germany on February 23, prompting sharp criticism from far-right and far-left parties opposed to the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)’s parliamentary head Bernd Baumann demanded Scholz call a special session of the Bundestag on the “desolate” security situation, arguing that “this is the least that we owe the victims.”

Meanwhile, the head of the far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explain “why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand”.

Scholz has condemned the “terrible, insane” attack, calling for national unity.

In the past, the suspect had voiced support on social media platform X for the AfD as well as for United States billionaire Elon Musk, who has backed the AfD. The party has a strong support base in former East Germany, where Magdeburg is located. Its members, including the candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel, planned a rally in Magdeburg on Monday evening.