Driver plows into Munich crowd in ‘suspected attack,’ injuring 30

MUNICH, Germany – A driver crashed his car into a trade union march making its way through the streets of Munich in what authorities believe was a deliberate attack late on Thursday morning.

Thirty people were injured, police said later, up from initial estimates.

Some 1,500 people took part in the demonstration organized by Germany’s Verdi Trade Union, the police said.

The suspected attacker, who has been identified as a 24-year-old Afghan citizen, was quickly captured by police officers who had been accompanying the demonstration near Stiglmaierplatz in central Munich, according to a senior Munich police official, Christian Huber.

Officers fired at least one shot at the suspect before managing to arrest him, according to police and witnesses.

The driver sped past a police vehicle that was accompanying the rear of the demonstration and crashed into the crowd, according to Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.

Some of those struck suffered life-threatening injuries, Herrmann said. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said he had been informed that children are among those injured.

“I am deeply shocked,” Reiter said. “My thoughts are with the injured.”

“A serious attack has taken place in Munich,” said Bavarian state Premier Markus Söder in a post on X made after visiting the scene of the crash.

Based on reports from police officers accompanying the rally, as well as other witnesses, “we must assume that it was not an accident, but that he acted deliberately,” Hermann said. He added that authorities do not currently believe that the suspect had accomplices.

He credited police officers who were accompanying the march with reacting quickly to prevent further possible injuries.

Following the attack, police raided a flat in the Munich district of Solln where the suspect is believed to have lived, German Press Agency has learned. Police and prosecutors declined to immediately comment on the search.

Sources also told German Press Agency that the suspect is believed to have shared a post online that expressed Islamist views at some point before the attack.

Suspect arrived in Germany in 2016

Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann said the Afghan driver who crashed his car into the trade union march had a valid residence permit and a work permit.

“This means that the perpetrator’s residence was absolutely legal up to the present day according to the current state of knowledge,” Herrmann told German Press Agency.

Hermann also said that the man had not been found guilty of shoplifting, though this had been stated shortly after the attack that took place earlier on Thursday morning.

The man, 24, came to Germany at the end of 2016 as an unaccompanied minor refugee. His asylum procedure was finalized in 2020 with a rejection notice and an order to leave the country, but his deportation was suspended.

However, Munich then issued a toleration notice in April 2021 and a residence permit in October 2021. The man attended school and completed vocational training.

“He then worked as a shop detective for two security companies,” Hermann said, adding that he had been involved in this capacity in several shoplifting trials, hence the earlier misunderstanding. “He was not a suspect himself, but a witness,” Herrmann said.

Munich had not made a decision on extending his residence permit, meaning it remained valid.

State premier Markus Söder also said the man had not come to the attention of the police, as had been earlier stated. “The perpetrator himself has probably been rather inconspicuous so far. So there are no corresponding indications. He was not obliged to leave the country.”

The man’s application for asylum had been rejected but Munich had issued a residence permit and the young man was also employed.

“And previous extremist backgrounds are not so easily recognizable at first glance,” Söder said, calling for investigations to determine the reason for this terrible and horrific act.

Trade union ‘shocked’ by attack on rally

The head of the German trade union Verdi, which had called the demonstration as part of a nationwide two-day strike by public-sector workers amid collective bargaining talks, said the union is “deeply saddened and shocked” by the attack.

“Our thoughts are with the innocent victims and injured, as well as their relatives,” Verdi chairman Frank Werneke said.

According to police, it remains unclear whether the trade union rally was deliberately chosen as the target in the suspected attack or whether the crowd was chosen at random.

German politicians vow ‘tough’ response

Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged a tough response to the attack, saying on Thursday afternoon that “this perpetrator cannot count on any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country.”

Scholz also expressed his deep sorrow, expressed his thoughts for those injured and their families and spoke of a “terrible attack.”

“It must be very clear that the judiciary will take tough action against this perpetrator with all the means at its disposal,” said Scholz. “Anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not only be severely punished and sent to prison, but must also expect that they will not be able to continue their stay in Germany.”

The attack immediately resonated in the political campaigns ahead of Germany’s upcoming February 23 election, in which migration policy and issues of attacks which police suspect were committed by asylum-seekers have already been a major theme.

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz, the front-runner to become the next chancellor, swiftly called for stronger security measures in the wake of the suspected attack.

“Everyone in our country must feel safe again. Something has to change in Germany,” the leader of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), wrote on X.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck spoke out in favor of a “comprehensive security offensive” to improve law enforcement cooperation and close gaps in policing.

Habeck, who is currently leading the election campaign for Germany’s Green Party, said the next government must pass needed new laws to improve security.

“I am horrified by this senseless act,” Habeck said in a post on X.

Soccer team sends good wishes

Football team FC Bayern said it was devastated to hear of the incident in Munich’s city center and expressed its deepest sympathies to those affected and their families in a statement.

Herbert Hainer, the team’s president, said, “Munich is our home city, and today our home was deeply shocked. The thoughts of the FC Bayern family are with those affected and their loved ones. We sincerely wish them all a speedy recovery and that the number of injured does not rise.”