Car ‘driven into pedestrians' in German city Mannheim weeks after Munich attack
Several people were seen lying on the ground with two casualties being helped by emergency workers after the incident, an eye witness told Reuters on Monday. Heavily armed officers are stationed in Mannheim's central square Paradeplatz, and blocking the bridges near Ludwigshafen, Mannheim's neighbouring city.
Local outlet Mannheimer Morgen (MM) report witnesses saying that at least one person is dead, but this has not been confirmed by authorities.
One eyewitness reported seeing a driver knocking over several pedestrians in Planken, main shopping street in the city of around 300,000, the outlet added.
The incident occurred as crowds gathered in cities across regions including Germany's Rhineland for parades to mark the carnival season.
A carnival market has reportedly been underway in Mannheim's city centre since Thursday, consisting of 60 food stalls and rides. One stall holder at the market said, according to MM: 'It is terrible here, nobody knows what happened, you only see injured people and the dead, and you don't know what to do.'
The interior ministry at Baden-Württemberg is warning of a 'life threatening situation' via a warning app, as the population is advised by police to avoid the city centre.
A person was seen being covered with a sheet by a reporter for German news agency dpa, meanwhile BILD reports that it was a black SUV which drove into the crowd.
A spokesperson for Mannheim police said: 'There is currently a police operation in Mannheim city center, in the area around Wasserturm/Plankenkopf. Police and rescue services are on their way.'
It comes just weeks after a car drove into a crowd of people in Munich, killing a 37-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter, and leading to the arrest of Farhad Noori, the Afghan asylum seeker suspected to be behind the attack.
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