‘There was no warning’ Magdeburg Christmas Market attack leaves Germans in ‘grief and surprise’
A devastating attack at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg has left the local community reeling in “shock and grief.”
“It’s really difficult to describe how we feel. I don’t have the words for the situation at the moment, we are all shocked,” Nicole Anger, member of state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt, told GB News.
She continued: “We are really shocked here and we are just trying to stay together, trying to be there for each other. We call each other.
“We are asking friends and family how they are, how they feel, if they are safe at home. So that’s what we we did last night and that’s what we are doing all day long.”
She added: “There was no warning before it just happened. Suddenly everybody was surprised. They were badly surprised by the moment.
“It was a Friday night and it’s the night before the weekend. So all the families and people have been to the market.
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“That’s what we do before Christmas. We go to the Christmas market and want to have some good time.”
Video footage captured the vehicle careening into the dense crowd of market-goers, though the content was deemed too graphic to share.
Between 60 and 80 people were initially reported to have been injured in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister President Reiner Haseloff described it as “a terrible event, especially in the days leading up to Christmas.”
The Minister President was unable to provide additional details about the victims at the time.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed grave concern over the incident, stating that reports from Magdeburg “suggest something bad is about to happen.”
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg.”
Rescue workers were quickly deployed to the scene, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz later praising their dedication “in these anxious hours.”
Local authorities have increased security measures at other Christmas markets in the region.
Anger added: “The markets are part of our culture. Our one is closed until the end of the year. And the other markets as far as I know, get more security now.”
“You can’t describe it with anger at the moment. It’s more grief and shock and we try to think to, to realise what happened to us here in our place.”