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254

Two killed and scores injured in Germany as car ploughs into crowd at Christmas market (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

41 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

A car ploughed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing at least two people, including a child, and injuring 68 others, 15 critically, in what authorities are treating as a terror attack.

The suspect, identified as Taleb A., a Saudi Arabian psychiatrist living in Germany since 2006, was arrested at the scene. He allegedly drove a rented BMW through the crowded market, targeting families and children.

The attack raised concerns about security at Christmas markets despite preventive measures like bollards. German and French leaders expressed shock and condolences.

This incident follows heightened vigilance since a 2016 truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 13 people.

all 45 comments

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[–] [email protected] 147 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Since the article does not mention it at all, the person in question was following and sharing racist rhetoric online - posts from AfD and Elon Musk, for example. He feared an "Islamization" of Germany and seemed to be very angry about it.

It is an important observation to report on, especially because people would assume him to be a racial stereotype that he is not. It is also responsible to include the details given that so much about him has already been shared online.

Source: Nach Recherchen von RTL/ntv äußert sich der Tatverdächtige in Sozialen Medien eindeutig antimuslimisch. Zuletzt klingen seine Postings, von denen er zahlreiche jeden Tag absetzt, immer wütender. Er befürchtet eine Islamisierung Deutschlands und teilt unter anderem Inhalte von rechtsideologischen Accounts – darunter AfD-Chefin Alice Weidel und X-Besitzer Elon Musk.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

He was also a Zionist. His Twitter account was saying how lucky some Syrians were to now be part of Israel.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A lot of commenters are going to be really embarrassed after what they wrote.

Or, well, they should be, if they have any dignity or decency.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Or ever even hear the truth.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Well, I did reply to their comments.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It does:

Some German media pointed to the suspect’s past social media posts in which he reportedly expressed views critical of Islam and had even warned of the “dangers” of an Islamisation of Germany.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago

You're right, but being afraid of radicalization is not the same as being xenophobic/racist. The fact that this guy supported the AfD is a key piece of information in my opinion.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

I assumed he was an incel.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Hypothesis (shooting from the hip here, apologies if I miss by a kilometer):

an ex-muslim radicalized as an anti-islamist authoritarian rightwinger goes into a mental health crisis
his ideology prevents him from seeking help or treatment
being angry about everything, decides to take random people with him in his suicide by cop
tries to win his favourite party an election by committing a terror attack typically associated with islamists
remains alive to face trial

Additional speculation: his former home country (Saudi Arabia) - known for sending teams of assassins with bone saws to kill dissidents in embassies when they apply for a passport - warns about the man, but nobody takes Saudi Arabia's warnings seriously because they're a tyranny that kills people. The warning gets thrown away along with loads of false warnings by Saudi Arabia.

As for news, here's another primary source:

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/magdeburg-news-polizei-geht-von-einzeltaeter-aus-hinweise-auf-zweites-auto-nicht-bestaetigt-a-16214d4b-1014-4648-b32a-82d11b748364

A man drove a car into a group of people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg early Friday evening. According to SPIEGEL information, there are at least five dead, including a small child. According to official information, at least 60 people were injured, including 15 seriously injured.

The driver of the car was arrested after the fatal drive. He is 50-year-old Taleb A., a doctor from nearby Bernburg. He was born in Saudi Arabia and came to Germany for the first time in 2006.

The police currently have no evidence of accomplices. According to information from security circles, the suspect is not known to be an Islamist. He appears on the Internet as an ex-Muslim and opponent of Islam. The background to the incident is still completely unclear - just like the possible motive.

SPIEGEL research has shown that Taleb A. openly sympathized with the AfD online. Read more about it here.

...but the link noted as "here" is unfortunately paywalled, so that's where my data ends.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

He was also a psychotherapist

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

In the CBC news alert they only mentioned he was from saudi arabia

[–] [email protected] 35 points 6 days ago

Just awful and tragic. All those families =(

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

Attacking a Christmas market to protest Islamism seems a bit like attacking an Amish farm to protest consumer electronics.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago (2 children)

This is really bad. The driver is from Saudi Arabia. AfD was already leading for the upcoming election, and now it's going to be a sweep. Fascism is back in control of Germany and this time America has already fallen. Get ready for interesting times.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

And the worst part is: The murderer achieves every goal they sought to.

Assuming an islamist motive, which is highly likely based on past attacks, there will be a significant increase in anti-Muslim discrimination. And islamists despise nothing more than Muslims successfully integrating into another society. After all, which cult does NOT prey upon vulnerable people and who is more vulnerable than someone experiencing constant discrimination?

ETA:

Turns out an islamist motive is highly unlikely, after other commenters pointed to an article that found the murderer shared anti-Muslim, far-right content online. Despite the tragedy, I'm genuinely relieved. This could've had devastating effects on the upcoming election.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago

Unfortunately, AfD and Musk won't hesitate to paint this as an islamist attack. They'll just claim the X posts are fake if necessary.

It may even have been the attackers' goal.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

ETA - estimated time of arrival?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

ETA can also mean “edited to add” when you update your comment to add more to it

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

He was apparently an angry right-wing nut who had turned against Islam.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago

The attacker is a doctor from a nearby city (Bernburg) living in Germany since 2006.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

There were already three attempts(Flensburg, Augsburg, Frankfurt) earlier this year.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

It's a yearly tradition now, yeah?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Library democracy wrings its hands and lets extremist ideologies fester, both through being too weak and placating to act at home and too weak to rein in abuses against Muslim nations abroad. The result is fascism in one form or another is elected to cut out the cancer. Sadly this is often done by cutting deep into the moderate communities tangentially related to terrorist extremists. Ugly the whole thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Library democracy wrings its hands and lets extremist ideologies fester, both through being too weak and placating to act at home and too weak to rein in abuses against Muslim nations abroad.

Not sure what a "library democracy" is supposed to be, but the rest of that sentence does not make sense in this context: the attacker is a rightwing nutjob who liked AfD and Musk posts, not a djihadist or anything like that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

"liberal democracy wrings its hands". Liberal democracy does not take seriously the fact that a lot of its population prefer either far far slower cultural integration or a more homogenous culture. Or both.

The rise of Christian nationalist terrorism is the result.

Global trade is preferred by capitalists, governments and urban elites. So the struggle takes on a class quality. It's the working class who place a different degree of value on what they perceived to be their culture. And it's the working class that tend to be on the receiving end of immigrations less pleasant side effects.

(That's not meant to imply immigration is a bad thing, I don't think it is, done properly)

The result is the resurgence of fascism.