Latest news with #ChristianHuber
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Yahoo
Munich police: Suspected vehicle attack injured at least 36
The number of victims in the suspected vehicle attack in Munich on Thursday is now known to be at least 36, including a number with serious injuries, Munich police announced at a press conference on Friday. Two of the victims in the attack suffered very serious injuries, including a young child, Munich police official Christian Huber said. A 2-year-old girl being treated at the Hauner Children's Hospital in Munich was in a critical condition in intensive care, a hospital spokesman had previously said. Police believe that a 24-year-old man intentionally drove his car into a trade union rally near Stiglmaierplatz in Munich's city centre. The man, an Afghan citizen who arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker and was in the country on a valid residency permit, was quickly apprehended by police officers who had been accompanying the rally and is being held in custody. A total of 14 injured people were treated at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Hospital's two facilities. Some patients were seriously injured and four had to be operated on immediately.
Arab News
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Afghan held after suspected ramming attack injures 28 in Germany
MUNICH: An Afghan asylum seeker was arrested after a suspected car ramming attack injured at least 28 people in the southern German city of Munich on Thursday, police said. The incident comes on the eve of a high-profile international conference in Munich and amid an election campaign in which immigration and security have been key issues after a spate of similar attacks. A passenger car drove into a street demonstration of striking workers from the Verdi trade union near the city center and was then shot at by officers, said the deputy head of Munich police Christian Huber. The driver, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was arrested at the scene, Huber said. Earlier a fire service spokesman told AFP that several of those hurt were 'seriously injured, some of them in a life-threatening condition.' The state premier of Bavaria Markus Soeder told a press conference that the incident was 'just terrible' and that 'it looks like this was an attack.' Soeder's Bavarian CSU party and its national sister party the CDU have demanded tougher curbs on migration after a series of similar attacks which have shocked the country. 'This is not the first incident... we must show determination that something will change in Germany,' Soeder said. 'This is further proof that we can't keep going from attack to attack.' The ground at the scene of the incident was littered with items including glasses, shoes, thermal blankets and a pushchair. Eyewitness Alexa Graef said she was 'shocked' after seeing the car drive into the crowd 'which looked deliberate.' 'I hope it's the last time I see anything like that,' she said. An eyewitness who was among the striking workers told the local BR42 website that he 'saw a person lying under the car' after it drove into the crowd. The president of the Verdi union Frank Werneke said in a statement: 'We are deeply upset and shocked at the awful incident during a peaceful demonstration by our Verdi colleagues.' The incident comes a day before the city is due to host the high-profile Munich Security Conference. US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among those arriving on Thursday to attend the two-day security meet. The latest suspected attack comes amid an already inflamed debate on immigration after several similar incidents, most recently in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last month. Two people were killed in a knife attack including a two-year-old child. After that attack a 28-year-old Afghan man was arrested whom authorities say has a history of mental illness.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What we know about Munich car ramming which has left dozens injured
At least 28 people are injured after a car drove into a crowd in Munich, police have said. The , close to the city's central train station at around 10.30am (9.30am UK time), officials is everything we know: What happened? The car was driven into the crowd on a street called Seidlstrasse in the central area of the city. The crowd was taking part in a demonstration organised by a trade union, and a police car was following them as they walked, deputy police chief Christian Huber said. "Then a vehicle approached it from behind," he added. "It approached the police car to overtake it, and then accelerated and drove into the back of the demonstration." A badly damaged cream-coloured Mini could be seen after the attack along with debris including shoes. Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said it was "probably an attack". A man was arrested at the scene and police said a shot was fired as the arrest was made, but have not added any further details. What we know about the victims Children were among those hurt, Munich mayor Dieter Reiter said, and local police said at least two people are "very seriously injured". The premier of Bavaria - the region where Munich is located - said a total of at least 28 people were injured and said some were critically hurt. Posting on social media, Munich police added: "Caring for the injured is currently the top priority." Who is the suspect - and do we know the motive? Police say the man arrested was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. They added he is being held and does not pose any further threat. The motives have not been confirmed by officials yet. Attention has been drawn to the fact the incident happened about 1.5km away from where the Munich Security Conference is set to take place on the weekend, with international figures such as US vice president JD Vance already arriving for it. But police have said the incident is not thought to be related to the conference. Incident comes amid immigration tensions Security has been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks. Immigration has been a major talking point, with far-right party AfD doing well in polls. German chancellor Olaf Scholz described the incident as a "terrible attack" and said the perpetrator "must be punished and he must leave the country". Read more: His comments come after the government said last year it was resuming flights for convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country. "It is very important for me to get the message across that anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not only be severely punished and sent to prison, they must also expect that they will not be able to continue their stay in Germany," he said. "That's why I managed to get the government I lead to resume and carry out repatriations to Afghanistan, despite the lack of diplomatic relations," he said. He added: "We have already organized such a flight with criminals... we are also in the process of doing this in other cases. And not just once, but on an ongoing basis. "This perpetrator cannot count on any leniency, he must be punished and he must leave the country."
Sky News
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
What we know about Munich car ramming which has left dozens injured
Why you can trust Sky News At least 28 people are injured after a car drove into a crowd in Munich, police have said. The incident took place at a square near downtown Munich, close to the city's central train station at around 10.30am (9.30am UK time), officials said. Here is everything we know: What happened? 0:30 The car was driven into the crowd on a street called Seidlstrasse in the central area of the city. The crowd was taking part in a demonstration organised by a trade union, and a police car was following them as they walked, deputy police chief Christian Huber said. "Then a vehicle approached it from behind," he added. "It approached the police car to overtake it, and then accelerated and drove into the back of the demonstration." A badly damaged cream-coloured Mini could be seen after the attack along with debris including shoes. Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said it was "probably an attack". A man was arrested at the scene and police said a shot was fired as the arrest was made, but have not added any further details. What we know about the victims Children were among those hurt, Munich mayor Dieter Reiter said, and local police said at least two people are "very seriously injured". The premier of Bavaria - the region where Munich is located - said a total of at least 28 people were injured and said some were critically hurt. Posting on social media, Munich police added: "Caring for the injured is currently the top priority." Who is the suspect - and do we know the motive? Police say the man arrested was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. They added he is being held and does not pose any further threat. The motives have not been confirmed by officials yet. Attention has been drawn to the fact the incident happened about 1.5km away from where the Munich Security Conference is set to take place on the weekend, with international figures such as US vice president JD Vance already arriving for it. But police have said the incident is not thought to be related to the conference. Incident comes amid immigration tensions Security has been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks. Immigration has been a major talking point, with far-right party AfD doing well in polls. German chancellor Olaf Scholz described the incident as a "terrible attack" and said the perpetrator "must be punished and he must leave the country". His comments come after the government said last year it was resuming flights for convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country. "It is very important for me to get the message across that anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not only be severely punished and sent to prison, they must also expect that they will not be able to continue their stay in Germany," he said. "That's why I managed to get the government I lead to resume and carry out repatriations to Afghanistan, despite the lack of diplomatic relations," he said. He added: "We have already organized such a flight with criminals... we are also in the process of doing this in other cases. And not just once, but on an ongoing basis. "This perpetrator cannot count on any leniency, he must be punished and he must leave the country."
CBC
13-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
At least 28 injured after driver plows into Munich crowd
A driver drove a car into a labour union demonstration in central Munich on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people including children, authorities said. Participants in a demonstration by the service workers' union were walking along a street at about 10:30 a.m. when the car overtook a police vehicle following the gathering, accelerated and plowed into the back of the group, police said. Officers arrested the suspect after firing a shot at the car, deputy police chief Christian Huber said. He added that at least 28 people were believed to be injured, some of them seriously. A damaged Mini was seen at the scene, along with debris, including shoes. "We are praying for the victims — we hope very much that they all make it," Bavarian Gov. Markus Söder told reporters at the scene. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said that children were among those injured. The suspect was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, Huber said. Bavaria's state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, confirmed the man was an asylum seeker. He said officials believe the protest was likely targeted at random. The state's justice minister, Georg Eisenreich, said a prosecutors' department that investigates extremism and terror was looking into the case. Attack likely not related to international conference The incident follows a series of attacks involving immigrants in recent months that have pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany's Feb. 23 election. Three weeks ago, a two-year-old boy and a man were killed in a knife attack in Aschaffenburg, also in Bavaria. An Afghan whose asylum application was rejected was the suspect in that attack. That followed knife attacks in Mannheim and Solingen last year, in which the suspects were immigrants from Afghanistan and Syria, respectively. In a Christmas market car ramming in Magdeburg in December, the suspect was a Saudi doctor who had previously come to various regional authorities' attention. Germany's main opposition conservative bloc, in which Söder is a prominent figure, has demanded a tougher approach to irregular migration, calling for many more people to be turned back at the border and for an increase in deportations. Curbing migration is also a core issue for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which polls put in second place behind the conservatives. Other parties at the federal party have yet to be part of a coalition with AfD, which is under observation by the domestic intelligence agency for suspected right-wing extremism, allegations the party rejects. 'A terrible attack' Centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government said it has already done a lot to reduce irregular migration, and that the opposition's plans are incompatible with German and European Union law. Scholz described the latest incident as "a terrible attack." "Anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not just be punished severely and have to go to prison, but must expect that he cannot continue his stay in Germany — and that also goes for countries that it is very difficult to send people back to," he said. Scholz noted that his government deported convicted criminals to Afghanistan on a flight in August and is working to do so again — "and not just once, but continually." The Bavarian capital will see heavy security in the coming days because the three-day Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of international foreign and security policy officials, opens on Friday.
