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Dozens hurt as car ploughs into German carnival parade


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Dozens hurt as car ploughs into German carnival parade

By Stephane Nitschke and Andreas Kranz

 

2020-02-24T192038Z_1_LYNXNPEG1N1VX_RTROPTP_4_GERMANY-CARNIVAL-CRASH.JPG

Police forensic officers work at the scene after a car ploughed into a carnival parade injuring several people in Volkmarsen, Germany February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

 

VOLKMARSEN, Germany (Reuters) - A German man ploughed his car into a carnival parade in the western town of Volkmarsen on Monday, injuring 30 people including children, police said, adding it was too early to say what his motive was.

 

German prosecutors and police said the suspect, a 29-year-old German citizen, was being treated for injuries sustained in the incident and they were looking into all possibilities.

 

He had been arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide, according to police.

 

"This is a terrible day, this is a terrible deed," said Peter Beuth, interior minister of Hesse, the western German state where Volkmarsen is located.

 

A third of those injured were children, he said, and police still had no indication of the possible motive.

 

"It can be assumed that it was intentional," police spokesman Henning Hinn said at the scene, where debris from the carnival littered the ground and a silver Mercedes-Benz car that appeared to have been involved was taped off by police.

 

He said eight to 10 of around 30 people injured were seriously hurt. "Among those who are seriously injured are children, unfortunately," he added. Bild newspaper said some of the injuries were life-threatening.

 

German news website HNA cited witnesses saying the man appeared to have targeted children and had driven "at full throttle" into the crowd, which had gathered for a traditional procession ahead of the Christian season of Lent.

 

"People were coming towards me, crying," Bild newspaper quoted local county commissioner Reinhard Kubat as saying.

 

"There were mainly injured children in the street, but also older people. Children came up to me and said it sounded like 'Plop, plop, plop' whenever the car ran over a person."

 

Police called off all carnival parades in Hesse as a precautionary measure, but said they were not aware of any danger elsewhere in Germany.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her thoughts were with the injured and their relatives and thanked police and medics.

 

The incident comes less than a week after a man shot dead nine people before killing his mother and himself, in one of the worst racist attacks in Germany since World War Two.

 

"ROSE MONDAY"

Carnivals are hugely popular in parts of western Germany, especially in Rhineland cities such as Cologne and Duesseldorf, where festivities peak on "Rose Monday" with tens of thousands attending street parades featuring comical or satirical floats.

 

Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene in Volkmarsen, a small town 260 miles (420 km) west of Berlin.

 

German media said the driver deliberately broke through plastic barriers set up by police around the parade area, where 1,500 people were expected to gather.

 

The car continued driving through the crowd for about 30 metres (33 yards) before coming to a halt, a witness told local broadcaster Hessenschau.

 

In 2016, a Tunisian man with Islamist militant ties ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people. He was later shot dead by Italian police after he fled Germany.

 

(Reporting by Michelle Martin, Joseph Nasr and Michael Nienaber; additional reporting by Alexander Ratz and Kevin Liffey; writing by Paul Carrel and Philippa Fletcher; editing by Gareth Jones, Mark Heinrich and Mike Collett-White)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-25
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10 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

These news articles lack crucial info like is it likely an islamist attack. Parade sounds like christian based.

 

A German man said to me a couple of weeks ago he thought there will be a civil war in Germany

 

They haven't released details of the attacker. It was a Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) parade, which is celebrated in some parts of Germany and other European countries.

 

Having worked in Germany, love the country and people, for years, the thought of a civil war looming has crossed my mind. If this turns out to be a revenge attack for the Shisha bar shootings, then it doesn't bode well. 

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4 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

Maybe not only your comment is silly but........ Also the International Press and even the German as far translated is not expressing any racism as you do. Except maybe the AFD-Nazi party where you I suppose might be a follower? 

You may suppose what you like. I suppose you don't know anything about Germany and german politics. Dream on.

Edited by JustAnotherHun
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13 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

German media writes "a german national".

I wonder, what the first name of this national might be. Will his name be Karl/Hans/Fritz? Or is it Muhamad/Ali/Mehmet?

What might his religion be? Katholic/protestant/none or maybe...?

I'll have to watch non german news closely to get the answer.

Considering the last two instances have been done by 'native' germans i think the odds are quite good he is another one.

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14 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

German media writes "a german national".

I wonder, what the first name of this national might be. Will his name be Karl/Hans/Fritz? Or is it Muhamad/Ali/Mehmet?

What might his religion be? Katholic/protestant/none or maybe...?

I'll have to watch non german news closely to get the answer.

Is this the german equivalent of blaming the burmese?

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17 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

German media writes "a german national".

I wonder, what the first name of this national might be. Will his name be Karl/Hans/Fritz? Or is it Muhamad/Ali/Mehmet?

What might his religion be? Katholic/protestant/none or maybe...?

I'll have to watch non german news closely to get the answer.

Maybe a Jew who lost family in the Hollucost.

17 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

German media writes "a german national".

I wonder, what the first name of this national might be. Will his name be Karl/Hans/Fritz? Or is it Muhamad/Ali/Mehmet?

What might his religion be? Katholic/protestant/none or maybe...?

I'll have to watch non german news closely to get the answer.

 

Edited by choff56
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