Magdeburg attack offers AfD fertile ground despite suspect’s support for party

“I feel bad, I still feel bad,” Eidwicht said, while at the Christmas market near the spot where the car sped off Friday, killing five people and injuring more than two hundred.

“My granddaughter was here. I called her because my daughter told me something had happened here. And she didn’t answer for two hours.”

There is deep sadness and anger here directed at the government and immigrants. “This cannot continue like this,” Eidwicht said.

A 50-year-old Saudi refugee has been arrested over the attack, but the motive is unknown.

Authorities say Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen was an “atypical” attacker. Germany’s Christmas markets and festivals have been attacked before, mainly by extremist Islamists.

He has been described as a critic of Islam and also expressed his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party on social media, praising the party for fighting the same enemy as him “to protect Germany.”

The AfD has not commented on those posts. The party held a rally in Magdeburg later on Monday, where its co-leader Alice Weidel called for change “so that we can finally live once again in security.” The crowd responded with calls to “deport them,” according to news agencies.

His party is currently ranking high in opinion polls ahead of the February 23 federal election, especially in states such as Saxony-Anhalt in the former East Germany.

This attack has brought two big electoral issues to the fore: security and immigration, and AfD figures have highlighted both since the attack.

Despite the suspect’s numerous statements expressing hostility towards Islam, the head of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, said in a statement that “the attack in Magdeburg shows that Germany is being dragged towards a political and religious fanaticism that has its origins in another world”. “.

In a post on of a restrictive immigration policy and consistent deportations!”

A counter-demonstration also took place in which anti-racist groups accused the AfD of taking advantage of the attack.

David Begrich of Miteinander eV said the city’s people needed a chance to catch their breath.

“There is great concern in immigrant communities about being scapegoated,” he said. “We don’t want that. We want to organize solidarity throughout society, but at the same time we are also sensitive to the voices of those who now react with fear and uncertainty.”

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for national unity and said that “a dark shadow hangs over this Christmas.”

“Hatred and violence should not have the last word. Let us not be separated. Let us remain united!” said.

Germans are wondering how the attack could have happened, when security was already tightened at the Christmas markets and when authorities had clearly investigated the suspect several times in recent years.

The threat he posed was deemed “too non-specific”, according to one assessment, while a notice against him in September 2023 appears to have gone unnoticed.

In another apparent safety lapse, the driver was also able to drive through a gap that had been left open for emergency access when it should have been filled by a police van.

Christmas market vendors have been allowed to return, throw away old food and remove their equipment and stock.

No one I approached wanted to speak to the BBC. It’s all too raw.

There has also been hostility towards journalists in recent days, especially after around 2,000 people joined a far-right protest in Magdeburg on Saturday night.

The Association of German Journalists stated that there had been attacks and threats against the press and called for greater police protection.

The BBC team joined mourners gathered in Cathedral Square for a live broadcast of the vigil for the victims of the attack and many who spoke to them said it was important to show solidarity at a time of terrible distress .

But one woman struck a note of caution. There are “some Nazis here who don’t like journalists,” he said. “Please be careful.”