At least 30 people have been injured, including children, after a car was driven into a crowd in a “suspected attack” in Munich, authorities said.
A 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, Farhad N, has been arrested after officers fired a shot at the vehicle.
Workers taking part in a union demonstration were walking along a street when the car overtook a police vehicle that was accompanying the group, according to officers in the German city.
They said the car then sped up and ploughed into the back of the group, before police opened fire.
Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder said the incident was “suspected to be an attack”. Some of the victims were seriously injured, and the motive was unclear.
Officials believe the protest, by the service workers’ union ver.di, was likely targeted at random, according to state interior minister Joachim Herrmann.
He said the suspect was known to authorities in connection with theft and drug offences.
The man’s asylum application had been rejected, but he had not been forced to leave due to security concerns in Afghanistan, said Mr Herrmann.
People were ‘crying and shaking’
A damaged Mini was pictured at the scene, along with items of clothing and bags, a broken pram, a shoe and a pair of glasses.
Sandra Demmelhuber, a journalist for local broadcaster BR24, posted an image on X showing the car surrounded by police and emergency crews.
She said: “There is a person lying on the street and a young man was taken away by the police. People were sitting on the ground, crying and shaking.”
A ‘terrible attack’
The incident happened at a square near downtown Munich, close to the city’s central train station at around 10.30am (9.30am UK time), police said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the events “horrible” and a “terrible attack”, saying “an Afghan perpetrator has severely injured people, and that is not something that we can tolerate or accept”.
“This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country.
“The government will be starting flights back to Afghanistan despite the lack of diplomatic ties.”
The incident is not suspected to be connected to the upcoming Munich Security Conference which starts on Friday around a mile away.
Security has been in sharp focus in Germany following a spate of attacks involving migrants in recent months and ahead of a federal election later in February.
A two-year-old boy and a man were killed in a knife attack last month in Aschaffenburg, also in Bavaria. An Afghan whose asylum application was rejected was the suspect in that attack.
