A car ploughed into a crowd in the historic centre of the eastern German city of Leipzig on Monday, killing two people and injuring several others, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The driver, a 33-year-old German man, was arrested at the scene and officials said his motivation was unclear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Germany has been shaken by a series of car-ramming attacks in recent years, including one targeting a Christmas market in 2024 in Magdeburg, and also in Berlin and Munich.<\/p>\n
In the latest incident in Leipzig, a Volkswagen Taigo car careered from a major square in the old town down a busy pedestrian zone, travelling hundreds of metres.<\/p>\n
Hosam Algaer, a Leipzig resident originally from Libya, told AFP he narrowly avoided being hit by the vehicle before running after it to try and help the injured until the car came to a stop.<\/p>\n
“The car braked, it stopped,” he said. “There was a woman on top and she ended up under the car, dead. She fell from the roof.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Luckily, things were not worse than they were thanks to the screaming,” he added. “People understood very quickly that an idiot was driving and they fled.”<\/p>\n
Michael Kretschmer — the leader of Saxony state, where Leipzig is located — said two people were killed, adding that the incident “shakes me to the core”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We will do everything in our power to investigate it quickly and fully,” he said. “The rule of law will act with all due rigour.”<\/p>\n
While officials did not draw firm conclusions on his motive, several described the incident as an “Amokfahrt” — a German term suggesting a rampage driven by some kind of madness.<\/p>\n
This kind of act was “often associated with psychological instability,” said Armin Schuster, the interior minister in the Saxony state government.<\/p>\n
Police said late Monday said there was “no basis on current knowledge” to assume a political or religious motive on the part of the perpetrator.<\/p>\n
A 63-year old woman and a 77-year old man, both German citizens, died in the incident, they added.<\/p>\n
At least two people were seriously injured and about 20 others were more lightly hurt, according to the fire service.<\/p>\n
Police said the car ploughed into people on Grimmaische street, a major pedestrian zone in the old town lined with shops and historic buildings.<\/p>\n
The driver stopped of his own accord, they added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
– Series of rammings –<\/p>\n
TV pictures showed a white vehicle with a badly damaged windshield and hood, and the street cordoned off and surrounded by emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n
Police deployed in large numbers in the city, which has a population of around 600,000, along with firefighters, emergency medical personnel and two helicopters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Authorities said the driver was being investigated on suspicion of offences including murder and attempted murder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was believed to have acted alone, police said, and there was no ongoing danger in the city.<\/p>\n
Leipzig appeared to be coming back to life quickly, with people sitting at outside tables a short distance from where the incident happened, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.<\/p>\n
Germany has been on high alert for vehicle ramming attacks since December 2016, when an Islamic State group sympathiser ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market.<\/p>\n
In 2024, a Christmas market in Magdeburg was targeted by a Saudi man, who drove a car into the crowd, killing six people and injuring more than 300.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Saudi man, now on trial, was a psychiatrist who adhered to conspiracy theories, held strongly anti-Islam views and repeatedly expressed his fury at German authorities.<\/p>\n
In February 2025, a mother and her daughter were killed and around 30 people injured by the Afghan driver of a vehicle that rammed into a march in Munich.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The attacks come as sensitivities around migrants have grown in parts of Germany following a large influx of asylum seekers and refugees in 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Immigration and security have risen up the political agenda in German political debate, helping fuel the rise of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).<\/p>\n
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