SCOTLAND'S First Minister has reassured Scots that “public safety and public security” are a priority for Christmas events following an attack on a German Christmas market.
Five people, including a nine-year-old boy, were killed and more than 200 injured when a car ploughed through the market in the city of Magdeburg on Friday night.
John Swinney expressed the condolences of the people of Scotland to the Saxony-Anhalt Government following the attack.
Speaking to the PA news agency on Monday, Swinney said: “The events in Magdeburg are absolutely heartbreaking and I have expressed the sympathy and the condolences of the people of Scotland to the Saxon-Anhalt Government as a consequence of this atrocity.
“It’s really important that everybody feels safe when they are undertaking all of their activities in life, but particularly when they are attending some of these very precious Christmas events within our community.
“Police Scotland has very active engagement with all of the organisers of these events to make sure that public safety and public security are uppermost in all of the preparations that are made for these events and that is the case in all circumstances in these events across Scotland.”
Authorities have arrested a man they say is a doctor who arrived in the country from Saudi Arabia in 2006, but have said he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks.
Who are the victims of the Magdeburg Christmas market attack?
Police have confirmed those killed were four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a boy aged nine. He was named as Andre Gleissner by fire department officials in the Elm-Asse region west of Magdeburg, where he was a member of the children’s fire brigade.
Another 200 people were injured, including 41 who are said to be in serious condition. They are being treated in multiple hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 80 miles west of Berlin, and beyond.
Who is the suspect?
Prosecutors said the suspect, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm.
In a closed-door hearing on Saturday evening, a judge ordered that he be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.
Several German media outlets have identified him only as Taleb A, withholding his last name in line with German privacy laws.
They report he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy and had lived in Germany since 2006, practising medicine in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.
The suspect’s account on social media site X describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith.
He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamification of Europe”. He has also voiced support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum-seekers.
What was the motive?
Investigators are analysing the suspect’s computers, mobile devices and other evidence, trying to understand what motivated him to drive his black BMW into the crowd.
Prosecutors said the motive may have been “dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany”.
There are unanswered questions about what the authorities knew about the suspect. The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Munch, said the agency received a warning from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, but that the information proved to be very unspecific.
Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also acknowledged it had received a warning about the suspect last year.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing criticism about security lapses that allowed the attack to happen, and was heckled by some bystanders during a visit to Magdeburg on Saturday.
What has the impact of the attack been so far?
The violence shocked all of Germany, prompting several other towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but increased the police presence.
Germany has suffered several extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and injured eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others.
Those attacks have led cities to increase security at Christmas markets and other events.
The horror triggered by yet another act of mass violence in Germany make it likely that migration will remain a key issue ahead of an early election on February 23.
It is the latest in a string of incidents around the world in which vehicles have been used as weapons by jihadi attackers, far-right extremists and others whose motives were unclear.
