Munich, Germany
CNN
–
A vehicle that plowed by Munich protesters on Thursday injured at least 28 people. Local officials said the world leaders were suspected of attacks just before the scheduled attacks in a southern German city for a high-level security conference.
The suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan, Munich police chief Christian Hoover told reporters. Bavarian governor Marcus Söder said the incident was “supposed as an attack.”
The incident occurs during election campaigns where immigration and security emerged as key issues after several similar attacks.
Authorities have launched a massive operation near the city’s central railway station, a spokesman said. Police did not view him as an additional threat, the force said in X’s post. City mayor Dieter Reiter said the children were among the injured.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Voldy Mieselensky, US Vice President J.D. Vance and other top diplomats will be attending the Munich Security Conference, about a mile (1.5 km) from the location of Thursday’s incident.
Söder’s meetings have strengthened local security measures and currently has “many police officers” in the city centre.
According to local broadcaster BR24, the car crashed into a group of protesters who were lining up a strike organized by the Verdi Union. Verdi is a key labor union in the public sector in Germany.
People at Pickettleline were employees of local childcare services, according to the union that organized the rally after negotiations on federal and local public service wages. Verdi said there was no further information about the incident.
One said he saw police shoot a car. “I saw a man lying under the car,” an eyewitness told German Program BR24. “Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked.”
Eventually, the witness retreated and turned his eyes to the injured, BR24 reported.
Bavarian governor Söder described the suspicious attack as “simply awful,” adding “something has to change in Germany.”
“We feel the victim and we are very hoping that everyone will make it,” he told journalists Thursday. “We all regret what happened here.”
The mayor of Bavaria said he was shocked by the incident, German newspaper Bild reported. “The police president informed me that the vehicles were driving to groups of people and many people were injured,” the writer said. “I’m deeply shaken. My thoughts lie with the injured.”
Germany is a country that is expected to run right in the general election later this month, and is flocked to by divisive rhetoric over the country’s immigration policy.
The country’s parliament rejected a draft opposition party in January that cracked down on immigration policies. A few days ago, the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) were accused of breaking an agreement to work with the far right.
The German (AFD) party’s far-right alternative took advantage of the growing anti-immigrant sentiment among some voters following a series of deadly attacks allegedly committed by immigrants last winter , gained momentum.
Söder said he received news that another assailant had plowed many people into the crowd in his car, injured many people, and felt like a “slap in the face.”
Sebastian Shukla reported from Munich, Sana Noor Hak and Sophie Tanno reported and wrote from London.
